USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 35
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Mr. Page was married November 25, 1897, to Miss Hilda Marquard, a daughter of Henry Marquard, of Hanover, Kansas, a retired millwright and implement
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dealer. He was a native of Alsace, Lorraine, and came to the United States when he was a young man, settling in Wisconsin and later removing to Hanover, Kansas, in a covered wagon in the '70s. He departed this life in 1898. To Mr. and Mrs. Page have been born three children. Eola Gladys Page is an honor graduate of Bonne Terre high school and a graduate of the State Teachers College at War- rensburg, Missouri, specializing in home economics. She took post-graduate work at the Columbia University Teachers College in New York city. Before grad- uating from Warrensburg she was elected supervisor of the home economics depart- ment of the Bonne Terre high school, where she taught that subject for two years. She is now supervisor of household economics in the high school of Klein, Mon- tana. Ione Johanna Page, a graduate of the Bonne Terre high school, is now taking an art course in Greeley, Colorado. Clark Marquard Page, who has been brought up and educated to the printing business, is a graduate of the Mergen- thaler factory Linotype School of Chicago. While he was a sophomore in the Bonne Terre high school in 1920, ill health compelled him to go to Greeley, Colo- rado, where he is now a high school student.
Mr. Page gives his political endorsement to the democratic party, and while he has never been a candidate for office, he has always manifested a keen interest in the activities of the party which he supports. He was a delegate to the dem- ocratic national convention of 1900, which was held in Kansas City, and eight years later went as a delegate to the convention in Denver. He was one of the original Bryan men and is still a warm friend and an ardent supporter of that dis- tinguished democratic leader. Mr. Page is a member of the Bonne Terre Metho- dist Episcopal church and a member of the board of stewards. He is also assist- ant superintendent of the Sunday school. Fraternally he has membership with the Modern Woodmen of America, belonging to Bonne Terre Lodge No. 3936; with Mineral Lodge, No. 96, Knights of Pythias, of Bonne Terre; with Samaritan Lodge, No. 424, A. F. & A. M., of Bonne Terre; Uel Chapter, No. 129, R. A. M., of Bonne Terre, of which he is a past high priest; De Soto Commandery, K. T .; and Mis- souri Consistory, No. 1, of St. Louis, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the Eastern Star and has held the posi- tion of patron several times. Mrs. Page is also active socially and is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, as are both of her daughters. Mrs. Page is past matron of the Lily Chapter of Hanover, Kansas, and also of the Vincil Chapter of Bonne Terre. She was district deputy in Kansas and Hilda Chapter in Marysville, Kansas, was named in her honor. Mrs. Page is a lover of good literature and is one of the founders of the Home Culture Club of Bonne Terre. She has been a delegate to the state conventions of the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs and is greatly interested in the activities of the Eastern Star. The city of Bonne Terre is indeed fortunate in counting the Page family among its residents. Mr. Page is known as a voracious student and reader and his fund of information is broad and varied, so that he is especially well equipped for his work in the "art preservative of all arts." He has much originality in thought and diction and has made his paper one of the brightest in this section of the state.
WALTER JOSEPH KNIGHT.
Walter Joseph Knight, a consulting engineer of St. Louis, was born in Evergreen, Alabama, July 14, 1882. The paternal grandparents were also natives of that state. The Knight family comes of English ancestry. The grandfather met death by drowning in the Alabama River while a passenger on a boat which was wrecked and from which there were no survivors. James V. Knight, the father, who is also a native of Alabama, is still living in that state. During the most of his life he has devoted his attention to general merchandising as a wholesale dealer. He was but sixteen years of age when he enlisted for service in the Confederate army. He fought with the southern forces for four years and was under the direct command of General Lee when the latter sur- rendered at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April. During the latter part of his service he was a scout and was twice wounded in action. He married Mary T. Brantley, a daughter of Brigadier General W. F. Brantley of the Confederate army who
WALTER J. KNIGHT
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was a distinguished lawyer of Macon, Mississippi and was subsequently assassinated during the performance of professional duty.
Walter Joseph Knight acquired his early education in the Mobile high school and was a member of the class of 1899. He then entered the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Alabama, and was graduated in 1903 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in civil engineering. He next entered the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he pursued a general commercial course, specializing in banking. After leaving the business college he was employed by the Midland Valley Railroad Company and assisted in the preliminary and location surveys of its lines from Fort Worth, Arkansas, to Wichita, Kansas. He was compelled to leave this service through illness brought on by exposure while in the line of his duty. He then went to Wash- ington, D. C., where he was associated with the bridge department of the District of Columbia, his work there consisting chiefly in the designing of concrete arches and steel trusses and also embraced general engineering work pertaining to the design and construction of many bridges. In the latter part of 1908 he left the national capital and removed to St. Louis where he became chief engineer for the Gilsonite Construc- tion Company, a corporation engaged exclusively in the construction of reinforced con- crete structures. He remained with that company until August, 1913, when he organized a corporation known as the Bergendahl-Knight Company with offices at both St. Louis and Chicago, Mr. Knight dividing his time between the two cities.
In August, 1915, he organized the corporation known as W. J. Knight and Com- pany, consulting engineers, of which he is the president and owner. This company has spacious offices in the Wainwright building and employs a corps of efficient engi- neers and draftsmen. Their specialty is reinforced concrete and structural steel con- struction. They have been the designers of many of the most important structures in St. Louis and the southwest. Among other buildings for which they have acted in the capacity of consulting and designing engineers, are the Friedman-Shelby Shoe Com- pany, St. John's Hospital, Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Company, St. Vincent's Orphan . Asylum, Milliken Chemical Company Plant, International Fur Exchange, Blackwell- Wielandy Book and Stationery Company, Mercantile building for D. R. Francis, Esq., and the Bevo Bottling plant which was erected at a cost of four million dollars. Still other structures designed by them are the Hotel Adolphus, the Harris-Lipsitz Furni- ture Warehouse, the Majestic Theatre and the Dallas County State Bank at Dallas, Texas, the Methodist Hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, the Crystal Palace at Galveston, Texas, the Norfolk Ice and Cold Storage Company at Norfolk, Virginia, and the Mer- chants Ice and Cold Storage Company at Richmond, Virginia. Thus they have been called to various sections of the country in the execution of important contracts and as a consulting engineer Mr. Knight is most widely known.
On the 28th of October, 1914, Mr. Knight was married to Miss Anita Gaebler of St. Louis, a daughter of Dr. A. N. Gaebler, who was born in this city where his father settled on arriving from Saxony. Dr. Gaebler's mother was a Miss Maxwell and was born in Virginia. Two children have added life and light to the Knight household: James Gaebler, born in 1915; and Ahden Brantley born in 1917. Mr. Knight is a mem- ber of the Baptist church, the faith in which he was reared. He never takes active part in politics and casts an independent ballot, regarding the capability of the candi- date rather than his political affiliation. He finds his principal recreation in fishing, golf, and motoring. Mr. Knight has contributed many articles on design and con- struction to different engineering publications and recently collaborated with Hool and Johnson as associate editor in the publication of two volumes known as the "Hand- book of Building Construction." He is a member of the University Club of St. Louis, the Glen Echo Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce and along professional lines he is a member of the St. Louis Engineers Club, the Chicago Engineers Club and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
CHARLES AUSTIN MURDOCK.
Charles Austin Murdock, deceased, was during an active life one of the distinguished, prominent and honored residents of Kansas City, connected in many ways with the public life of the community. He was born at Rupert, Vermont, on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1844, and his life record covered the intervening years to the 13th of February,
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1919. In his boyhood days he became a resident of Wisconsin, where he attended the public schools. He afterward engaged in the coffee business in Milwaukee, that state, becoming a member of the firm of Jewett & Sherman Manufacturing Company. In 1878 he arrived in Kansas City where he engaged in the coffee business, organizing the C. A. Murdock Manufacturing Company in 1881. This company was formed to deal in coffee, spices, flavoring extracts and condiments with Mr. Charles Austin Mur- dock as president, covering the states of Missouri. Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Iowa, Arizona and New Mexico, and his enterprise and progressiveness, his sound business judgment, thoroughness and reliability constituted an important adjunct to the growth and success of the business. He was also a director of the Fidelity Trust Company, a director of the Fidelity Savings Trust Company, one of the organizers of the Kansas City Missouri River Navigation Company and one of the organizers and directors of the Union Avenue State Bank. In fact he figured very prominently in connection with the financial circles of Kansas City and was honored and respected by all who knew him, not only by reason of the success which he achieved but also owing to the straightforward and progressive business policies which he ever followed. He became one of the organizers of the Priests of Pallas and was one of the leaders in the building of Convention Hall. Obstacles and difficulties in his path seemed to serve but as an impetus for renewed effort upon his part and in his vocabulary there was no such word as fail. Determination and diligence carried him steadily forward and his sound judgment recognized the value and the opportunity of every business situation.
On the 9th of January, 1889, Mr. Murdock was married to Miss Nellie Eby, a daughter of Upton Eby, treasurer of the Riley, Eby, Wilson Company, wholesale grocers. To Mr. and Mrs. Murdock were born the following named: Katherine, who married Stanton Cole Sherman, of Kansas City; Charles Austin, Jr., who married Miss Helen Cunningham, of Kansas City, and they have a son, Charles Austin, Jr., III .; Joseph M. Murdock, not married; Frederick Judson, who married Edith Ferguson, a daughter of Henry Ferguson and they have one daughter, Jean Ferguson.
Mr. Murdock was a republican in politics and a stanch supporter and warm admirer of Theodore Roosevelt. He belonged to the Kansas City Club, and was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, cooperating in all of its definite plans and projects for the city's upbuilding and advancement. He was a man of broad vision who recog- nized opportunities that others passed heedlessly by-opportunities that look to the welfare and upbuilding of the city as well as to the advancement of his individual fortune. He always found time to cooperate in any measure for the general good and at the same time carefully promoted his individual interests, becoming a prominent and prosperous business man of western Missouri, leaving to his family a handsome estate and also the priceless heritage of an untarnished name.
CHARLES PETER PERETTI, JR.
Charles Peter Peretti, Jr., attorney at law of St. Louis, was born July 2, 1895, a son of Charles Peter Peretti, a native of Italy, who came to St. Louis in 1880 and is a successful and enterprising merchant of the city. He has also been active in republican politics and for seventeen years has been precinct chairman of the repub- lican twenty-fourth ward committee, filling the position at the present time, while for the past twenty years he has been postmaster of Station No. 59 in St. Louis. He was a delegate to the national convention that nominated William Mckinley for the presidency and he has been very active in all civic, as well as all political affairs and is proud of his American citizenship. He has been most loyal to his adopted country and her interests and his aid and influence are ever on the side of progress and improvement. He married Henrietta Pague, who was born in Osnabruck, Ger- many, and came direct to St. Louis from her native country. By her marriage she has become the mother of two sons and a daughter.
Charles Peter Peretti, the second child, was educated in the Henry Shaw public school and the Central high school, being graduated from the latter in 1913. He then entered the Washington University of St. Louis and in 1917 won the Bachelor of Law degree. While a student there he was employed as assistant librarian and thus worked his way through college, the money thus earned enabling him to pay
CHARLES P. PERETTI, JR.
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his tuition and meet the other expenses of his college course. He was admitted to practice on the 12th of July, 1917, since which time he has been active as a member of the har, continuing in general practice. He has won a large clientele among the German and Italian people of the city. He is thoroughly conversant with both lan- guages, as well as with the English, and this enables him to care for the interests of those who speak the tongues indicated. He belongs to the St. Louis Bar Association.
In July, 1918, Mr. Peretti joined the army and was first stationed at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, while later he was sent to Camp Pike, Arkansas, and afterward was transferred to the Non-Commission School as an instructor. While there he was commissioned a sergeant major and was honorably discharged January 7, 1919. In 1917 he served as an advisor and he was a member of the pageant committee of The Pageant and Masque of St. Louis. On the 27th of October, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois, Charles Peter Peretti, Jr., was married to Miss Ellen Blake, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Blake of San Diego, California.
Mr. Peretti gives his political allegiance to the republican party and in 1920 was a delegate to the state convention held in Kansas City. He helongs to Lambskin Lodge, No. 460, A. F. & A. M., and Alhambra Grotto, and he is the president of the Farimount Camp of the World War Veterans. His entire life has been spent in St. Louis, and those familiar with his records know it to be a history of steady prog- ress resulting from his constantly developing powers and his laudable ambition.
THOMAS J. FRIER.
Thomas J. Frier, purchasing agent for the Wahash Railroad at St. Louis, was born in Keokuk, Iowa, February 12, 1866. His father, John Frier, was a native of Ireland and came to America in the late '40s, settling in Keokuk in the early '60s, where he resided until his death in 1873, at which time he was thirty-nine years of age. He had followed railroading and at the time of his demise was yardmaster of the Keokuk & Des Moines Valley Railroad. He wedded Mary Roach, also a native of Ireland, who came to the new world with her parents during the early '50s, the family home being established in Keokuk where she met and mar- ried to Mr. Frier. She is now a resident of Hannibal, Missouri.
Thomas J. Frier is the second eldest of a family of four sons and three daugh- ters, of whom three are living. He acquired a public school education in Keokuk and also attended the parochial school of that city. When seventeen years of age he entered the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad as a clerk in the master mechanic's office and continued with that road until 1909, advancing from his first position through various departments until he became general store- keeper of the entire Burlington System, with headquarters at Chicago. He was occupying that position at the time he resigned to hecome purchasing agent for the Wabash Railroad, which office he has continuously filled to the present time, covering eleven years. He is ingenious in working out details of economical con- trivances in the line of his business and has proven a most capable man, his in- dusty, his enterprise and his fidelity heing manifest in his constant promotions.
In Keokuk, Iowa, on the 5th of October, 1891, Mr. Frier was married to Miss Ann Neyens, a native of that city and a daughter of the late John and Elizabeth (Smith) Neyens, both representatives of old families of Keokuk of Dutch descent. To Mr. and Mrs. Frier have been born three children: John, who was born May 23, 1895, in Hannibal, Missouri, served in the navy during the World war as an en- gineering officer on a transport and was commissioned an ensign and promoted to the rank of junior lieutenant, while later he became senior lieutenant. He was on a mine transport-a ship that carried mines and explosives; Thomas J., Jr .. the second son, born May 7, 1897, in Hannibal, served as chief yeoman at the League Island navy yard during the World war. The daughter Elizabeth was born in Hannibal, June 10, 1902.
In his political views Mr. Frier is a democrat where national issues and ques- tions are involved hut at local elections often casts an independent ballot. He belongs to the Roman Catholic church and to the Knights of Columbus. He also has membership in the Missouri Athletic Association. He deserves much credit
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for what he has accomplished, having started at the bottom and climbed to the top in the purchasing and supply department of two large systems of railroads on his merit and faithful, intelligent effort. He has thus been successful in estab- lishing an excellent husiness reputation and is highly esteemed by his associates.
JACK HENNING.
John (Jack) Henning, an investment broker of St. Louis, is numbered among the native sons of Missouri, his birth having occurred in Perryville, Missouri, March 4, 1878. His father, .Dr. Adolph F. Henning, now deceased, was a native of Germany and came to America in 1857 when twenty-two years of age. He first settled in New York and there pursued a course in the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. He had previously graduated from a Heidelberg Univer- sity and devoting his life to the practice of medicine continued active in the pro- fession to the age of seventy years. Removing to the west he practiced in different periods in Cape Girardeau and at Perryville, Missouri. Espousing the cause of his country he rendered military service in the Mexican and Civil wars. The last ten years of his life were spent in honorable retirement and he passed away in January, 1916, when he had reached the age of eighty years. He married Caroline Peseux, a native of Switzerland and of French descent. Her demise occurred when she was sixty-five years of age. She was the mother of twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, of whom two sons and three daughters are living.
John (Jack) Henning of this review was the sixth in order of birth. He was educated in the parochial schools of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and has learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience. When nineteen years of age he started out in the business world and was first employed in learning the black- smith's trade in which he served a three years' apprenticeship. He then turned his attentions to commercial lines and became a salesman. He likewise engaged in the real estate business in St. Louis for some time and since 1917 he has main- . tained a stock and bond brokerage business, gaining a liberal clientage in this connection.
On the 14th of August, 1901, Mr. Henning was married to Miss Virginia Bran- ham, a native of Sturgeon, Missouri, and a daughter of Charles Branham and Ann Eliza (Sutherland) Branham. To Mr. and Mrs. Henning have been born four children, John Charles, Jr., born in St. Louis September 2, 1903; Virginia Eleanor, born March 17, 1906; Martha Louise, born in St. Louis March 22, 1910; and Caro- line Elizabeth, born September 26, 1916.
Mr. Henning maintains an independent course in politics voting for the can- didate whom he regards as best qualified for office. While he is a member of no church he is a close Bible student and a devout believer in the scriptures. His life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles and the sterling worth of his character is attested by all who know him.
EDWARD TERHUNE MILLER.
Edward Terhune Miller, who is classed by many as "one of the best lawyers of Missouri," is general attorney for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company, a branch of the Frisco System. Choosing as a life work a profession in which progress depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has steadily worked his way upward until his position is now one of large responsibilty and one of gratifying prominence. He was born in Keytesville, Missouri, December 29, 1870, his parents being John Caskie and Almeria (Hawes) Miller, the former a native of Scotland while the latter was born in Virginia. The father came to the United States in 1852, settling first at Richmond, Virginia, where he resided until 1859 when he removed to Missouri. In this state he engaged in banking and also in the tobacco business and his last days were passed in Nashville, Tennessee, where he departed this life in 1907. His wife was called to her final rest in 1900 and at her death left six children, all of whom are living.
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Edward T. Miller, after attending the public schools of his native city, con- tinued his education in the military academy at Lexington, Missouri, and ultimately was graduated from Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, with the class af 1889 and from that institution received the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Science. Having qualified for the bar he was admitted to practice in Chariton county in 1892 and there maintained an office until 1898. He afterward removed to Brunswick, Missouri, where he remained in the active work of the profession until 1901. In that year he returned to Keytesville where he resided until 1903 when he removed to St. Louis and became associated in law practice with the firm of Boyle, Priest & Lehmann, thus continuing until February, 1908. At
that date he was made general attorney for the Frisco System and has remained in that position for a period of twelve years. He enjoys the high regard of his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession and is widely and favorably known in the membership of the St. Louis, Missouri State and American Bar Associations.
On the 20th of January, 1904, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Bess Townsend, a daughter of Major John H. Townsend, of Gallatin, Missouri, and they are now parents of two sons: Edward Hawes, twelve years of age; and Townsend, aged seven, both attending school. Both Mr. and Mrs. Miller are prominent members and active workers in the Central Presbyterian church in which he is serving as elder and both take a most helpful interest in promoting the growth of the church and extending its influence. Mr. Miller is a member of the Glen Echo Country Club and also of the Noonday Club. He is a lover of music and possesses an. excellent voice. He turns to golf and fishing for diversion and recreation but the major part of his time and attention is given to his profession and he is a deep student of the science and principles of law. He is a logical thinker, a clear reasoner and possesses a most analytical mind and retentive memory. He is a man of studious habits, well read, whose ideas upon all questions are sane and practical. Natural ability and industry have brought him to the front in his pro- fession and yet he has never allowed it to monopolize his time and attention to the exclusion of other duties. He has been particularly active in the work of the church, has served as teacher of the men's Bible class and superintendent of the Sunday school and thus is making contribution to the moral progress of his city and the adoption of those principles and influences which result in tempering cold hard facts with sentiment and with love.
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