USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
At the age of seven years Edwin' S. Pillsbury was in Memphis, Tennessee, to which place his father had removed the family, there holding a position in the United States court. Soon afterward, however, Edwin S. Pillsbury went to New England where he attended the public schools and the Pinkerton Academy at Derry, New Hamp- shire, while later he became a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston. In 1894 Mr. Pillsbury came to St. Louis, having accepted a contract with the Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company to develop the single phase alterating current motor, which up to that time had not proven a success. It was Mr. Pillsbury's work that resulted in the production of the successful repulsion start, induction oper- ating, alternating current motor and in the manufacture of this type of motor today St. Louis leads the world. After the expiration of his contract with the above firm
- riet
EDWIN S. PILLSBURY
289
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
Mr. Pillsbury was for some time connected with the Wagner Electric Company of this city.
In 1902 he joined the H. E. Lindsey Electrical Supply Company, jobbers of electri- cal supplies, etc., and at once changed this company to a manufacturing concern. In 1904 the name of the Century Electric Company was adopted and Mr. Pillsbury took control of the business, of which he was later elected president. The company is today capitalized for one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Under his guidance the business has made rapid, substantial and satisfactory progress and today the Century motors are in use all over the world, shipments being made to China, Japan, Australia, South America and in fact to every part of the world. The output has now reached large proportions and the business is one of the large produc- tive industries of St. Louis. The plant, which is located at Pine and Nineteenth Streets, extends through to Olive street. The company owns the property on both sides of Pine street from Eighteenth to Nineteenth, with the exception of the parcel on the northeast corner of Eighteenth street. The plant is modern in every respect and the company has just completed, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars, a new seven-story building in the middle of the block on the south side of Pine street. This building is one hundred and eighty feet long and is the last word in factory construction. In these magnificent plants employment is given to over one thousand high grade mechanics and the most advanced standards are maintained in connection with the output.
On the 17th of June, 1907, in St. Louis, Mr. Pillsbury was married to Miss Harrlet Brown, a native of Missouri, who was born at Ironton, and they have become the parents of three sons: Frederick S., Joyce and William. The religious faith of the family is Baptist and they are members of the Third Baptist church of St. Louis, in which Mr. Pillsbury is serving as a trustee. Mr. Pillsbury is president of the Missouri Baptist Sanitarium and is also a trustee of William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri. In political views he is a republican. The family now occupies a fine country resi- dence, Ridgeview, on the Mcknight road, near Clayton. His has been a most active, busy and useful life. His enterprise and industry have enabled him to overcome all. difficulties and obstacles in his path and step by step he has advanced, at all times keeping in touch with the onward trend of the electrical business. Thoroughly in- formed concerning every phase of the work his progressive methods have taken on tangible form and not only has he profited individually from the conduct of the indus- trial plant which he has built up but has also contributed much to the prosperity and business growth of the city and state.
J. D. PERRY FRANCIS.
J. D. Perry Francis, associated with the brokerage firm of Francis Brother & Company of St. Louis, was born October 31, 1876, in Normandy, Missouri, and is a son of Governor and Mrs. David R. Francis, his father being at one time chief executive of the state and now ambassador to Russia. The son was educated in private schools and in Smith Academy of St. Louis, while later he went east to enter Yale and completed his university course with the class of 1897. Upon his return he became associated with the firm of Francis Brother & Company in the conduct of a banking and a brokerage business and has since been active in this field. He is thoroughly familiar with the value of all commercial paper and has developed a large clientage in handling brokerage interests. He is also a director in the Mississippi Valley Trust Company, in the Mortgage Trust Company, in the Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney Dry Goods Company, in the Scullin Steel Company and numerous others of the more important corporations of St. Louis.
On the 31st of January, 1900, Mr. Francis was married in St. Louis to Miss Emelie De Mun Smith, daughter of Dr. E. F. and Isabelle (Chenie) Smith, both now deceased. She is also a sister of Dr. Elsworth Smith, one of the prominent citizens of St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Francis reside at No. 4510 Maryland avenue.
Mr. Francis has always given his political allegiance to the democratic party. When America was engaged in war with Germany he took most active part in promoting the Liberty loan drives and was also registrar in his precinct. Mr. Fran- cis is well known in club circles, belonging to the Racquet, St. Louis, Log Cabin, Vol. V-19
290
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
St. Louis Country and Noonday CInhs and various other clubs and social organiza- tions. He finds his recreation in golf and outdoor sports. He belongs to one of the most distinguished families of Missouri and while he has never sought prom- inence in the political field he has demonstrated the strength of his character. his business adaptability and his progressive spirit in the conduct. of his business affairs and in his cooperation with interests of marked value and worth to the city at large.
CHARLES CALVIN ZIEGLER.
Charles Calvin Ziegler, secretary and treasurer of the American Brake Com- pany of St. Louis, was born in Rebersburg, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1854, his parents being Isaac and Catherine ( Kern) Ziegler, representatives of the old fam- ilies of that state. Charles C. Ziegler was educated in the public schools of his native town and also attended the State University of Iowa and Harvard University from which he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1885 he came to St. Louis and became identified with the American Brake Company in 1888. Later he was elected secretary and treasurer of this company and has since continued to fill the position. He has contributed much to the success and growth of the business, owing to his spirit of enterprise and determination. Thor- onghly acquainted with every phase of the business he is thus able to direct the labors of others and has been active in building up an organization that produces most' substantial results.
Mr. Ziegler was married in St. Louis to Miss Mary Katherine Conser, of Rebers- burg, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Henry G. and Mary Conser. They have become parents of twin daughters: Laura Alpha, who died at the age of ten, and Calla Alpha who resides with her parents.
Mr. Ziegler has given some time to literary work and is the author of a booklet of poems written in the Pennsylvania German dialect entitled "Drauss Un Deheem" which has received favorable mention. He belongs to St. Mark's English Lutheran church and now holds the office of church treasurer. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to Forest Park Lodge, No. 578, A. F. & A. M .; Kilwinning Chapter, No. 50, R. A. M., and Hiram Council, No. 1. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party but he does not feel himself bound by party lines. He has never sought nor desired office, preferring to concentrate his efforts and atten- tion upon his business affairs and as the years have passed he has been active in the upbuilding of one of the important productive industries of St. Louis.
J. ED. BAIRD, M. D.
Dr. J. Ed. Baird, who since 1911 has engaged in the practice of medicine in Excelsior Springs, was born in Ray county, Missouri, September 21, 1880, a son of Jesse and Rachel (Rowland) Baird, the former a native of Tennessee, while the latter was born in Missouri. The father came to this state about 1870 and was married in Ray county where he settled and turned his attention to farming. *He died in 1881 during the infancy of his son Dr. Baird. The mother, however, is still living on the farm where the Doctor was born.
To the public school system of his native county J. Ed. Baird is indebted for the early educational advantages which he enjoyed. He afterward attended the Northwestern State Normal School of Oklahoma and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1903. He then entered the University Medical College at Kansas City and completed his course in 1908, winning the M. D. degree. He at once began practice in Oklahoma, where he remained from 1908 until 1911, when he came to Excelsior Springs where he has since followed his profession most success- fully. His ability is acknowledged by all who have been his patients and it is well known that at all times he keeps in touch with the trend of modern professional thought and progress, his study, research and investigation proving strong ele- ments in his growing ability.
291
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
On the 3d of September, 1908, Dr. Baird was married in Oklahoma, to Miss Garnett M. Kendall, a native of Iowa whose father is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. To Dr. and Mrs. Baird have been born three children: Jack, Bill and Mary Garnett.
Dr. Baird is fond of a game of golf and is seen upon the links when professional duties permit. His political support is given to the democratic party and fra- ternally he is connected with the Masons as a member of the lodge, chapter, com- mandery and Mystic Shrine. He served two terms as president of the Excelsior Springs Commercial Club. During the World war he took a very active part in upholding the interests of the government and was captain of the Medical Corps attached to General Hospital, No. 14, and is captain in the Medical Reserve Corps, United States army. He is always keenly interested in the welfare and progress of his city and state where his ancestors have lived for many decades. His grand- father removed to Ray county, Missouri, in 1818, becoming one of the pioneers and was active in all matters pertaining to shaping the early history of the state. His name is associated with many stories that have to do with the hardships and trials which the first settlers experienced and with the work of progress and im- provement as the years have gone on. The same spirit of devotion to community and commonwealth was shown by his father and is manifest in the life of Dr. Baird. He is a most progressive citizen and this quality is manifest most strongly in his professional duties. He is a man of broad sympathy and kindly purpose and these have been contributing elements to the success which he has won in medical and surgical practice.
CARL G. RATHMANN.
Carl G. Rathmann, assistant superintendent of the public schools of St. Louis through appointment of the board of education and previously long connected with the schools of the city as teacher and principal, was born May 27, 1853, in Flensburg, Germany, and is a son of H. N. and Johanna (Lippelt) Rathmann, the former a native of Tondern, Germany, while the latter was born in Brunswick, Germany. The father came to America in 1870, making his way direct to St. Louis where he resided until his death in 1880, when he was fifty-four years of age. He was a shoemaker by trade. His wife died in 1871 at the age of forty-five years. In the family were five sons and two daughters, of whom only two are living.
Carl G. Rathmann pursued his early education in the schools of Germany, attend- ing the gymnasium, and after accompanying his parents to the new world in 1870 he continued his studies in the Missouri State University. Starting out in life inde- pendently he took up the profession of teaching which he followed in his home city. He came direct to St. Louis in 1871 and later removed to St. Charles county where he remained for a year. The succeeding year was spent at the State University in completing his studies, after which he returned to St. Charles county where he again engaged in teaching for three years. He later returned to St. Louis where he taught German in the public schools for four years and later was made assistant director of the Toensfeldt Institute, in which position he continued for a decade. On the expira- tion of that period he opened a boarding and residence school for boys in Kansas City which he conducted for six years, or until 1898, when he returned to St. Louis and became principal of the Gratiot school, with which he was connected for a short time. He was then promoted to the Jackson school and later was principal of the Fremont and the Garfield school. In 1903 he was advanced to the position of assistant superintendent which office he has since filled, his educational work thus continuing over a period of forty-nine years.
Professor Rathmann was married in St. Louis, August 18, 1879, to Miss Anna Crecelius, a native of Mehlville, Missouri, and a daughter of Philip and Anna (Crecelius) Crecelius, who were representatives of one of the oldest and best known families of St. Louis county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Rathmann have one son, Walter Lincoln.
Politically Mr. Rathmann is a republican and keeps well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day. He has done much important public work and is now chairman of the board of Children's Guardians, having charge of delinquent, dependent and neglected children in the city. He was appointed to this position in 1912
292
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
and for the past four years has been chairman of the board. His fraternal relations are with the Royal Arcanum and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He also belongs to the City Club and to the Liederkranz of St. Louis and he is a member of the National Education Association, the Missouri State Teachers' Association, the St. Louis Society of Pedagogy, and the St. Louis Schoolmasters' Club, manifesting the keenest interest in all those forces which relate to the development and improvement of the public school system of the country.
CLAUD D. HALL.
Few representatives of the St. Louis bar have enjoyed so wide and well merIted a reputation as has Claud D. Hall, an eminent attorney who achieved notable suc- cess as prosecutor in the famous case of E. G. Lewis, who had been the promoter of almost untold corporations and business interests that were of a chimerical character, existing more upon paper than in any substantial form. As a lawyer Mr. Hall has always displayed keen powers of analysis and notable insight into the purposes and plans of men. His preparation of a case has always been full and comprehensive, his application of legal principles exact and his deductions clear and logical. By reason of these qualities he has won notable success in his chosen profession.
Mr. Hall was born in Arcola, Douglas county, Illinois, December 6, 1873, and is a son of John Isom Hall, a native of southern Indiana, whose people came from Virginia and were of Welsh descent. The father was reared, educated and married in the Hoosier state. It was on the 4th of February, 1868, that he wedded Carrie Bond, a native of Lawrence county, Indiana, and soon thereafter they removed to Douglas county, Illinois, where they have since resided, occupying one farm throughout this period. The father is a very enterprising and progressive agriculturist and is one of the leading and prominent citizens of that part of the state. To him and his wife have been born eight children, four sons and four daughters. The parents celebrated their golden wedding on the 4th of February, 1918. The parents of Mrs. Hall came from Ireland. The founder of the Bond family in the new world settled here in an early day, and Mrs. Hall is a descendant of Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary war fame.
Mr. Hall pursued his early education in the public schools of Arcola, Illinois, and afterward attended De Pauw University, at Greencastle, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1896 with the Bachelor of Philosophy degree. His high standing was indicated in the fact that he was chosen to deliver the class oration of that year. He prepared for a professional career in the St. Louis Law School, a department of Washington University, from which he was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1898. On the 27th of June in that year he was admitted to the bar and has since continued successfully in the general practice of law. He is a member of the St. Louis Bar Association, the Missouri Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. His early life to the age of seventeen years was spent upon the home farm and his career illustrates the fact that when the city boy crosses swords with the country lad in the struggle to secure ascendancy the odds are against him, for the early rising, the necessity to make each blow tell on the farm, and the demands to meet the existing conditions all develop in the country bred boy qualities which make for advancement when he enters upon any line of business. While still a college student Mr. Hall acted as newspaper correspondent during vacation periods and gained much by this experience and thus added to his funds. He closely applies himself to the mastery of every problem presented for solution and in the preparation of his cases is prepared not only for attack but also for defense. He has been connected with some of the most important litigation heard in the courts sitting in St. Louis as well as the state and federal appellate courts. Perhaps the most notable law case with which C. D. Hall has been connected, was that which concerned E. G. Lewis, the publisher and organizer of scores of corporations which took the money of thousands of investors and stockholders from throughout the country, and yet some of these corporations never had a directors' meeting.
The Post-Dispatch of St. Louis said: "This lengthy bill of complaint recites
CLAUD D. HALL
295
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
a marvelous story. If it recites the truth, or if a small per cent of the recitals are the truth then we have for consideration one of the most gigantic frauds that has ever been perpetrated in many a day"-in such terms did Judge Dyer and McPherson of the United States circuit court order the enormous Lewis enterprises placed under a blanket receivership.
Another Journal said: "The 'lengthy bill of complaint' referred to, consisting of several hundred typewritten pages of allegations, was prepared and presented by Claud D. Hall. In his presentation of the case, lasting more than an hour and a halt, Mr. Hall recited the principal facts of the various and diverse Lewis schemes, and cited authority after authority, for his position without reference to any notes or memoranda of any kind. His speech is said to have been one of the most convincing and most eloquent arguments ever presented in any court at St. Louls. "The largest of the Lewis enterprises affected by the receivership order, were the University Heights Realty & Development Company, capitalized at one million dol- lars; the Lewis Publishing Company, three and one half million dollars; the United States Fiber Stopper Company, one million dollars; the People's Savings Trust Company, four hundred thousand dolars; and the Development & Investment Com- pany, one hundred thousand dollars.
"These concerns as revealed in the decision of the court were all figments of the brain of E. G. Lewis, not yet forty years of age. Mr. Lewis has proved himself one of the greatest of frenzied financiers of the United States. He was the prototype of 'Get-Rich-Quick-Wallingford.' When it came to gathering money, multiplying it, making it do double duty, etc., Lewis was a financial genius of the first water. But he became involved; he waded in too far. Some of his stockholders suspected loose practices and called for a show-down, and it was then that Lewis' house of cards tumbled about his head. The story of his career, which cannot be given here in full reads like a romance, a fanciful fairy tale from the inventive brain of some great imaginative writer.
"Sixteen years ago Lewis found himself in a southern city stranded. With only twenty-five cents in his pocket, he faced the prospect of starvation unless something turned up at once. He had heard that oil of wintergreen was repugnant to bugs. Why not make of it a bug powder or a bug chalk? No sooner thought than done. He invested his quarter in oil of wintergreen and chalk, which he mixed with water and molded into sticks. Going to a nearby drug store, he an- nounced that he had discovered the first and only infallible bug chalk. He agreed in the presence of a number of the store's patrons, to prove the merits of his discovery. The druggist produced and set loose on the floor a roach. Lewis drew out a stick of his bug chalk and marked a wide circle on the floor around the roach. The insect ran around the floor until it came to the wintergreen-scented chalk mark, when it stopped, refused to cross that line and turned the other way. Lewis sold three dollars worth of his chalk to those who witnessed the performance, stocked the druggist with it, bought more raw material and in one afternoon found himself launched on a long and varied career of frenzied finance.
"Among the many companies that he promoted or was interested in are these: Bug Chalk Company; Anti-Skeet Company, making tablets to kill mosquitoes; Anti-Fly Company; another anti-skeet company; Cathartic Medicine Company; World's Fair Contest Company; Mail Dealers' Protective Association, for collecting delinquent mail order accounts; Corroco Company, to take over all Tennessee preparations; Corona Compana, a St. Louis concern for making bug poisons; Dr. Hott's Cold Crackers, guaranteed to 'crack a cold in an hour'; Diamond Candy Company; Hygienic Remedy Company; Walk-Easy Company, a foot powder con- cern: Anti-Cavity Company, toothache medicine; Progressive Watch Company, to sell watches by the endless chain scheme; Mail Order Publishing Company; National Installment Company; Coin Controller Company; Woman's Farm Journal Company; Woman's Magazine; Allen Steam Trap Company; University City Heights Realty & Development Company; Richarz Press Room Company; Controller Company of America; California Vineyards Company; Lewis Publishing Company; Fibre Stop- per Company; People's United States Bank; International Language Schools; Art Pottery Company; Woman's National Daily; the St. Louis Subway Scheme; and the Woman's National League.
"The judicial opinion states the case in part as follows: 'Commencing approxi- mately ten years ago, the defendant Edward G. Lewis, utterly insolvent, has
.
296
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
handled hundreds of thousands of dollars of money, and millions upon millions of dollars of paper in the form of notes, bonds, debentures, trusts deeds and securities. If the recitals of this bill are to be believed, and they are not as yet controverted, the South Sea Bubble, of which Washington Irving so beautifully wrote, has been well nigh equaled, if not eclipsed by the schemes during the last decade of the defendant, Edward G. Lewis. If this story is worthy of credence, the Panama stock and bond scandal of France of fifteen years ago, has been equaled if not surpassed. One corporation would be organized, accompanied by the most flaming and glittering bulletins, dodgers, circular letters and advertisements, informing the people how they could get rich over night and make money in fabulous sums by the investment of their meagre savings. One corporation would progress some time, but for a few months, and in no instance for longer than two or three years, when something better would be announced, investors advised to have evidence of indebtedness surrendered and changed in form and another corporation would be organized. Magazines were brought into being and sold to subscribers at a nominal rate, resulting in thousands of tons of such literature being carried through the United States mails in the city and country of St. Louis free of transportation charges and sent to all parts of the United States for a cent a pound. The ostensible purpose of these magazines and papers was for the purpose of pub- lishing literature of the highest order, but in truth and in fact for the advertising of the schemes of the enterprises of the defendant, Lewis. At the commencement of his career Lewis was not worth a dollar. He has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars, a part of which was for his own use and benefit, and many times that sum for the investment in buildings, machinery, real estate and the building of additions to the city of St. Louis. One of his schemes was for the creation of a college or university, partly to be devoted to oral teaching, but largely to teaching by mail. Stock was subscribed by persons from all over the country. Some stock would be issued but additional and more promises made for the issue of stock at some future day. By the time the stock was to be issued a new scheme would be devised and stock or bonds in many corporations promised. Some of these corporations were organized under the laws of the state of Missouri and were organized in utter defiance of the laws and constitution of the state. Other corporations were or- ganized under the laws of the state of South Dakota, the purpose thereby being to circumvent the laws of the state of Missouri. The place of business was to be at or adjoining the city of St. Louis, in the state of Missourl.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.