USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 21
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JAMES ADELBERT McMILLEN.
James Adelbert McMillen, who since the 1st of July, 1919, has been librarian of the Washington University in St. Louis, was born January 23, 1889, near Maryville, in Nodaway county, Missouri, his parents being Cyrus Grant and Mary Ann (Warner) McMillen. The father was born in Hancock county, Illinois, June 30, 1864, and his parents were James B. and Margaret S. (Evans) McMillen. The former was born in Brown county, Ohio, in 1828 and became one of the early settlers of Hancock county, Illinois, having removed to that state in 1849. There he remained for many years and in 1881 became a resident of Nodaway county, Missouri. His son, Cyrus Grant McMillen, has now for almost forty years been a resident of Missouri and is engaged in general merchandising at Pickering. His wife, Mrs. Mary Ann McMillen, was born in Richland, New York, December 30, 1868, and was a direct descendant in the ninth generation of Andrew Warner, one of the original settlers of Newtowne, now Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was on the 15th of March, 1885, that Mary Ann Warner became the wife of Cyrus G. McMillen.
James A. McMillen was a pupil in the public schools of Maryville until graduated from the high school with the class of 1906 and later attended the University of Mis- souri, being graduated with general honors in 1913 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He afterward entered the New York State Library School at Albany, New York, and the B. L. S. degree was conferred upon him in 1915. Throughout the intervening period he has devoted his attention largely to library work. He was assistant librarian at the Maryville (Mo.) Free Public Library in 1906-07 and librarian there from 1907 until 1909. Throughout the ensuing year he was a representative of publishing inter- ests in the employ of the King-Richardson Company and in 1910 he accepted the position of assistant at the University of Missouri Library, there remaining until 1913. In July, 1914, he became a cataloger in the New York Public Library filling that position until the following September when he was made library assistant of the New York State Library and so served until 1915. In the latter year he became librarian of the
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University of Rochester, where he remained until 1919 when he returned to his native state to become librarian of the Washington University on the 1st of July, 1919.
Mr. McMillen enlisted on the 17th of May, 1918, for service in the World war and was sworn in on the 17th of June. He became chief quartermaster of the aviation department, U. S. N. R. F. He was stationed with the Naval Aviation Detachment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from July 17, 1918, until November 21, 1918, and has since been on inactive duty.
In politics Mr. McMillen is an independent democrat, voting according to the dictates of his judgment rather than according to party ties. His religious faith is indicated in his connection with the Disciples of Christ, ofttimes known as the Christian church. He belongs to the Phi Beta Kappa and is a member of the City Club of St. Louis, also of the American Library Association and the New York Library Association.
REV. JOHN F. STEVENS.
Rev. John F. Stevens, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Catholic church at the corner of Eighth street and Allen avenue in St. Louis, was born January 11, 1875, in the city which is still his home, his parents being Henry and Catherine Stevens, both of whom were natives of Germany, whence they came to the new world with their respective parents. The father, now deceased, was a carpenter by trade.
The son, John F. Stevens, was born and reared in the parish of which he now has charge. He attended the parochial school of SS. Peter and Paul church and later became a student in St. Francis Seminary at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he pursued his classical and philosophical studies. Subsequently he took up the study of theology in Kenrick Seminary of St. Louis and when he had completed his course he was too young to be ordained to the priesthood. He was then sent to Louvain, Belgium, attending the great university there and on the 8th of Sep- tember, 1897, was ordained to the priesthood, after which he returned to St. Louis and was appointed assistant to the Rev. Mgr. F. Galler, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul church.
In 1910 Mgr. Galler passed away and was succeeded by the Rev. Mgr. O. J. S. Hoog, V. G. Owing to illness the latter retired from active work in the ministry in 1913, since which time Father Stevens has been in charge of the parish which is one of the oldest in the city of St. Louis, having been founded in 1849. The parish school has an enrollment of more than eleven hundred pupils. The work of the church has been thoroughly organized in its various departments and is one of the strong moving forces among the Catholic people of the city.
Father Stevens has membership in St. Paul's Benevolent Society, also in the Western Catholic Union and is a fourth degree member of the Knights of Colum- bus, having been one of the founders of Lafayette Council, No. 1940, in March, 1919. This council now has a membership of two hundred and fifty. Father Stevens is a man of scholarly attainments who exerts a strong influence over the lives of those with whom he comes in contact and his labors for the church and the upbuilding of the cause are far-reaching and resultant.
WILLIAM COX BROWN.
William Cox Brown is the treasurer of the Pioneer Cooperage Company of St. Louis, which had its inception at an early period in the industrial development of this city. In fact the name of Brown has been closely associated with business enterprise here for three-quarters of a century, for in 1845 William Brown, father of William Cox Brown, arrived from the east and thereafter remained a factor in the industrial and business development of the city to the time of his death. The son was born in St. Louis, January 23, 1858. He pursued a public school education and received his early business training under the direction of his father, who estab- lished a lumber and milling company at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After a brief period, however, he returned to St. Louis and became one of the organizers of the enterprise that eventually assumed the name of the Pioneer Cooperage Company.
WILLIAM C. BROWN
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Following the death of the father in 1888, Daniel S. Brown, brother of William Cox Brown, became the head of the company and so continued until his demise. Both the father and brother are mentioned at length on another page of this work. William Cox Brown remained an active factor in the management and control of the business in association with his brother for a number of years and eventually was elected treasurer of the concern, which is one of the most important enterprises of the kind in this section of the country. He also spent a part of his time with the branch house that was established in Chicago but later concentrated his efforts upon the further development of the St. Louis business in association with his brother, Daniel S. Brown.
In 1889 William Cox Brown was united in marriage to Miss Ottilie Eisenhardt, and by this marriage has one daughter, Dorothy Lydia Brown. Mrs. Brown passed away in 1893, and in 1896 Mr. Brown wedded Miss Edna Histed, of St. Louis, and they have become the parents of two sons, William Cox, Jr., and Warren Elliott.
Mr. Brown is a man of most charitable and kindly spirit who makes generous response to many calls for aid and is always willing to extend a helping hand to a fellow traveler on life's journey. He is a member of the Missouri Athletic Club, but his time outside of business is largely devoted to his home, where his interest centers for he finds his greatest happiness at his own fireside. In business affairs he fully sustains an honored family name and manifests the same spirit of enterprise that has characterized the entire connection of the Brown family with the cooperage development of St. Louis. At all times he keeps in touch with the trend of public thought and feeling and his aid and influence are ever on the side of progress and improvement.
WILLIAM N. KLETZKER.
William N. Kletzker, the president of the Central Engraving Company of St, Louis, of which city he is a native son, was born August 6, 1885, his parents being Albert J. and Elizabeth M. (Buhman) Kletzker, the latter also a native of Mis- souri. The father started out in the business world in connection with the Levi- son-Blythe Stationery Company and worked his way steadily upward until he was admitted to a partnership in the business. Subsequently he was proprietor of the St. Louis Engraving Company, a co-partnership, and remained with the firm to the time of his death, which occurred on the 13th of May, 1908. His widow sur- vives and is yet a resident of St. Louis. There were four children in their family, three sons and a daughter, all of whom are living in this city, namely: George S., secretary and treasurer of the Central Engraving Company, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; Wallace J. Kletzker, vice president of the Central Engraving Company; and Etta, who is now making her home in Oakland, Cali- fornia.
The other member of the family is William N. Kletzker of this review who is indebted to parochial and public schools of St. Louis for the educational oppor- tunities which he enjoyed and which fitted him for life's practical and responsible duties. He started out in the business world in the employ of the St. Louis ED- graving Company, with which firm his father was connected. His original posi- tion consisted of office work but gradually he worked his way upward, winning advancement by reason of his fidelity, capability and willingness to work. He remained with this firm up to the time of his father's death in 1908 and then organized the Central Engraving Company of which he became the president, so continuing throughout the intervening years. The company does photo engraving, half-tones, zinc etching, and three and four color process work, also illustrating and art work. The firm is now well established in husiness receiving a liberal patronage. Mr. Kletzker has figured in the business circles of St. Louis for thirteen years as head of one of its growing enterprises and is widely and favorably known throughout the city and surrounding country. The company occupies nearly all of the fourth floor of the Calumet building. The offices and work-rooms are well equipped with everything necessary for carrying on a progressive engraving busi- ness, and an average of twenty-four clerks and skilled engravers and workmen are employed.
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On the 14th of November, 1914, in Springfield, Illinois, Mr. Kletzker was mar- ried to Miss Agnes Bushek, a daughter of James Bushek of St. Louis who has now retired from active business. Mr. and Mrs. Kletzker have but one child, a sweet and winning little daughter, Virginia, two years of age:' Mr. Kletzker is a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce, Advertising Club, Kiwanis Club, Missouri Athletic Club and St. Louis Art League. Throughout his entire life he has been connected with the engraving business and the thoroughness with which he has undertaken his work has brought about a degree of skill and efficiency that places him in a most creditable and enviable position among the leading engravers of the city.
HENRY QUELLMALZ.
Henry Quellmalz, head of the H. Quellmalz Lumber Company of St. Louis, has been a lifelong resident of this city and is a self-made man for he started out on his own account when a lad of but thirteen years and since that time has de- pended solely upon his efforts and energies for his business advancement and success. He was born in St. Louis, November 27, 1857, his parents being Henry and Elizabeth (Hofner) Quellmalz, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father came to America in 1850, settling in St. Louis, and in this city was married in 1854 to Elizabeth Hofner. He engaged in the machinery and blacksmithing business to the time of his death, which occurred in 1881. To him and his wife were born three sons and two daughters.
Henry Quellmalz, the eldest of the family, was a lad of but thirteen years when he started out in the business world by learning the blacksmith's and machinist's trade. Later he was connected with the wood stock manufacturing business and afterward organized the Lloyd D. Harris Manufacturing Company. He was asso- ciated with the business until 1907 and then bought out his employers and organ- ized the H. Quellmalz Lumber & Manufacturing Company, of which he is the pres- ident. In this connection he has developed one of the important lumber interests of the middle west. He has large land holdings, embracing extensive tracts of timber land and he has five sawmills located in Clay and Greene counties of Arkan- sas. During the World war he supplied the government with material for tent pins and also wagon material. His trade relations cover a very extensive territory, for he ships lumber into various sections and the business is now a very profitable one.
On the 27th of December, 1881, Mr. Quellmalz was married to Miss Annie Selhoefer, a daughter of Henry Selhoefer, a prominent contractor of St. Louis. To this marriage have been born four children: Henry, Mary, Edwin and Telka.
In his political views Mr. Quellmalz is a stalwart democrat and for four terms served as state committeeman from the tenth district, continuing in the position from 1898 until 1918. He has been very active in democratic politics and his opinions carry weight in the councils of his party. He belongs also to the Western Rowing Club, to the Chamber of Commerce and along the line of his business is identified with the National Hardwood Lumber Association. He studies closely everything that relates to the trade and his enterprise, comprehensive knowledge and indefatigable energy have been the salient features in the attainment of his present-day-success.
J. D. PERRY LEWIS.
J. D. Perry Lewis, president of the Lewis Automobile Company of St. Louis, was born in this city September 11, 1873. His father, William J. Lewis, was a well-known merchant and manufacturer who was born in Buckingham county, Virginia, October 27, 1825, his parents being Thomas and Jedida (Whitehead) Lewis, who were also natives of the Old Dominion. The father died a few months prior to the birth of William J. Lewis, who was the youngest of six children. In 1831 the family removed to the west, settling in Howard county, Missouri, where the representatives of the Lewis family became interested in the tobacco industry,
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with which their ancestors in the maternal line had been connected in Virginia. A relative, W. D. Swinney, was at that time proprietor of the largest tobacco fac- tory in Missouri and there Benjamin Lewis, the eldest brother of William J. Lewis, found employment. After learning the business he established a factory of his own and William J. Lewis, then nine years of age, worked in the factory during the summer months. The business developed into the largest enterprise of the kind in the state and William J. Lewis gained valuable experience therein in con- nection with the tobacco trade. In 1847 he removed to St. Louis, where he estab- lished business on his own account in partnership with his brother, James W., under the firm style of Lewis & Brother and this business prospered and grew to a grati- fying degree. In 1854 they were joined by a brother-in-law, John D. Perry, and for many years the business was conducted under the style of Lewis, Perry & Com- pany. In 1870 William J. Lewis turned his attention to the commission business, with houses in St. Louis, New York and New Orleans, and the same qualities which had promoted the steady and substantial growth of the tobacco business now brought success to the new undertaking. Later Mr. Lewis became interested in the Memphis Packet Company, which at that time was in a precarious financial condition, and soon placed it upon a substantial business basis. In 1870 he was
chosen the first non-partisan to fill the office of president of the Merchants Ex- change and most commendably and efficiently administered the affairs of the organ- ization. In 1866 he became one of the organizers and incorporators of the Com- mercial Bank and was elected its second president, continuing in the office for a decade without salary. He also became identified with the insurance business and with the development of the coal and iron trade in St. Louis. He was very active in the attempt to restore to St. Louis the trade which it had lost during the Civil war and his labors in this direction were highly successful. A contemporary writer has said of William J. Lewis: "His high spirit of unselfishness invited and secured the confidence of his associates in business and he was recognized as a man whose ability to achieve success by upright and honorable means was a guarantee that no enterprise committed to his management would ever be tarnished with even the suspicion of unfairness. One of his traits was a quick sympathy with deserving young men struggling against obstacles to make their way in the world and there are not a few who, at this day, remember his helping hand with lively gratitude. He was a successful man, but his success never lifted him above his early friends, nor altered his unpretentious manners. He always remained approachable, simple and sincere, and he never lost his youthful intolerance for affectation and pre- tense."
In 1852 Mr. Lewis wedded Rebecca Turner, daughter of Talton Turner, of Howard county, Missouri, and they became the parents of six children: Mrs. Julia L. Knapp, Talton Turner, Mrs. Sallie L. Johnson, Benjamin W., William J. and J. D. Perry. The death of the father occurred July 14, 1879, at which time the St. Louis Republican said editorially: "There could be no death in St. Louis that would have given a greater shock to the whole community than that of William J. Lewis, which occurred very suddenly yesterday. He was a man esteemed in all circles. Of thorough business habits, enterprising and progressive, he seemed to influence all by whom he was surrounded. In social life he was genial and un- selfish. He was devoted to everything that meant prosperity, fame or honor." Mrs. Lewis long survived her husband, passing away in September, 1908.
In the acquirement of his education J. D. Perry Lewis, the youngest of the family, attended the public schools, the Smith Academy and the Manual Training School. He started out in the business world in the employ of the telephone com- pany and afterward became connected with the Halsey Automobile Company, with which he remained for twelve years. Actuated by a laudable ambition he at all times tooked forward to the day when he might engage in business on his own account and in September, 1912, he organized the Lewis Automobile Company, of which he is the president. Long before reaching his present prominent position in connection with the automobile trade of St. Louis he had built the first motor car constructed west of the Mississippi river, his efforts in this direction reaching fruition in 1893. He had always been a student of electricity and when people began talking about the possibilities of a practical horseless carriage decided to convert a light road wagon which he owned into an electric machine. This proved successful in a way, after which he had a carriage-maker build him a large body,
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which he fitted up with thirty storage batteries and the new car was a decided success as automobile successes were then rated. He was always followed by a crowd as he would drive his machine through the city and he continued to run the car for about two years, at the end of which time he lost interest in it because it had cost him about fourteen hundred dollars to build and he did not believe that anybody would ever want to pay that much money for a horseless machine. It was then that he became connected with the telephone company, but later realizing what the future had in store for the automobile he returned to that field of busi- ness. As the years have passed he has kept pace with the progress in the auto- mobile trade and today is president of the Lewis Automobile Company, which is conducting an extensive and profitable business as dealers in motor cars. The industry today justifies his early vision and belief and he has lived to reap the benefits of his early labors in the substantial success that has come to him through the sale of motor cars.
On the 19th of January, 1897, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Miss Sallie E. Turner, of Glasgow, Missouri, and to them have been born three children: Ericson, who is an ensign in the United States navy; Abbie, sixteen years of age; and Lucy, nine years of age.
Mr. Lewis maintains an independent course in politics nor has he ever sought political preferment. He belongs to the St. Louis Auto Club and has a wide social acquaintance in his native city. During the war he served as captain of one of the divisions in connection with the Red Cross drive and at all times he is keenly interested in everything that pertains to the welfare and upbuilding of community, commonwealth and country, his stalwart Americanism and his progressive citizen- ship being never called into question.
JOHN J. MILLER, M. D.
Dr. John J. Miller had passed the seventy-eighth milestone on life's journey when on the 17th of September, 1920, he was called to his final rest. For many years he had been a well known and successful representative of the medical pro- fession in St. Louis and his hospital work was particularly notable and valuable. He was born at Fayette, Howard county, Missouri, on the 3d of May, 1842, his parents being James and Martha J. (Woodson) Miller, the former a son of James Miller of Martinsburg, Virginia, whose brother, John Miller, was colonel of the Nineteenth United States Infantry in the War of 1812 and became the third governor of the state of Missouri, filling the office for two terms or from 1825 until 1832. The family name is one long associated with the history of this state.
Reared under the parental roof, excellent educational advantages were accorded Dr. Miller, who eagerly improved his opportunities of this character and was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nashville and the Western Military Institute at Nashville, Tennessee, in June, 1860. On completing his course in the latter institution he received a lieutenant's commission from Governor Isham G. Harris of Tennessee. A desire to make the practice of medicine his life work led to his matriculation in the St. Louis Medical College in January, 1862, and he was graduated therefrom with the class of March, 1864. In May of the same year he was appointed assistant army surgeon of the Confederate army and was on duty at the Winder General Hospital and also at the Libby Prison Officers' Hospital at Rich- mond, Virginia, until the occupation of Richmond by the Federal troops in 1865, While at the Winder Hospital he instituted the practice of turpentine dressings as a remedy for, and preventive of, hospital gangrene.
When the war was over Dr. Miller located for practice in the western suburbs of St. Louis and for many years was one of the most able and successful physicians of that section of the city. He was also physician to the German Protestants' Orphan Asylum, to which position he was called in 1874. In April, 1892, he took up his abode in the city of St. Louis and through all the intervening years until his death remained a most active and valued member of the profession. He kept in touch at all times with the latest scientific researches and discoveries concerning the laws of health and the treatment of disease, and in all of his practice his efforts brought results that indicated a most careful diagnosis and a thorough understanding of the
DR. JOHN J. MILLER
Vol. V-13
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best remedial methods and agencies. He held membership with the St. Louis Medical Society, was a life member of the American Medical Association and belonged also at one time to the Mississippi Valley Medical Society, in which he served on the judi- cial council in 1888. He likewise had membership in the Missouri State Medical Asso- ciation and his writings and contributions to medical literature made him widely known to the profession in various parts of the country.
On the 28th of December, 1865, Dr. Miller was married to Miss Mary E. Burd, the eldest daughter of John W. and Eliza A. Burd, of St. Louis, and they became parents of three children. The only son, Richard Burd Miller, was born in St. Louis county, September 26, 1866, and attended the manual training school of Washington University and also the Bryant & Stratton Business College. When a youth of sixteen he accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Alkire Wholesale Grocer Company, by which he was employed from 1882 until 1886, and through the succeeding eleven years was bookkeeper to president of the Collins Brothers Drug Company. In 1897 he became secretary and is now president of the O. J. Lewis Mer- cantile Company of St. Louis. He is a Methodist in religious faith, a Mason in fra- ternal connections and is a member of the Midland Valley Country Club. The elder daughter of the family, Evelyn, born in St. Louis county, July 24, 1872, was educated at Hosmer Hall and on the 11th of June, 1901, became the wife of Frederick Vierling, of St. Louis, by whom she has one son, John Frederick, born in St. Louis, September 7, 1905. The second daughter, Clara Maud, born in St. Louis county, May 28, 1878, is a graduate of the Beethoven Conservatory of Music and Hosmer Hall. On the 29th of January, 1908, she became the wife of Edwin B. Sherzer, of St. Louis. Both Mrs. Vierling and Mrs. Sherzer became charter members of the University Methodist Episcopal church, South.
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