USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 38
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ROBERT E. MOLONEY
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great-grandfather, Patrick Walsh, was of Irish descent but was born in the state of New York where the family settled at a very early day. Patrick Walsh became one of the pioneer residents of St. Louis where he took up his abode in the early part of the nineteenth century. He was a well known prominent character here and was the first justice of the peace of St. Louis. His son, James B. Walsh, was at one time mayor of Carondelet. The Harding family was of Welsh lineage and through that line Mrs. Lee was a direct descendant of Admiral Oliver Hazard Perry. She is still living and makes her home in St. Louis.
James Sidney Lee, her only child, was educated in public, private and parochial schools completing his studies in Smith Academy. After leaving school at the age of fourteen years he entered an architectural school and upon completing his studies took up the active work of the profession in which he has since continued. For twenty-five years he has practiced as one of the architects of St. Louis and his recognized ability has brought him to a point of leadership in this field. On all sides stand buildings' which are monuments to his skill and ability, for he has long enjoyed an extensive patronage in the line of his chosen profession.
On the 22d of April, 1894, Mr. Lee was married in St. Louis to Miss Ida Bell Rice, a native of St. Charles, Missouri, and a daughter of Dr. Curtis Rice of a prom- inent old family of this state and a well known physician and surgeon of St. Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have become parents of two children: Wallace Francis, born in St. Louis; and Harold Silvester.
Mr. Lee's military service covers three years' connection with the Missouri National Guard. During the World war he took most active part in promoting the work of the Knights of Columbus, in behalf of the soldiers. He is a fourth degree Knight and was formerly treasurer of the order. He belongs to St. Rose's Roman Catholic Church and in politics maintains an independent course. He has never sought nor desired office, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business interests and he has become one of the well known architects of St. Louis. He has largely specialized in church architecture and has designed many of the leading Catholic churches, the Catholic hospital and orphanages of the city. He has also erected a large number of public buildings in the past twenty-five years in St. Louis and throughout the surrounding country and his work has at all times been the expression of that which is highest and best in his chosen field of labor.
HARRIS L. MOORE.
Harris L. Moore, engaged in the practice of law at Excelsior Springs, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, October 18, 1871, a son of John C. and Pauline (Harris) Moore. The paternal grandfather was Dr. John S. Moore who in early manhood became a member of the faculty of the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis and later was dean of the college. He became a man of note in his profession, long holding a prominent position as a representative physician and surgeon of the state. The maternal grandfather of Harris L. Moore was one of the leading men of Kansas City in his day and took a very active part in all public affairs. He served as mayor for two terms and on the occasion of his first candidacy was opposed by T. B. Bullene who was called a most popular man in Kansas City and who was a lifelong friend of Mr. Harris. Nothing was allowed to interfere with this friendship which was continued uninterruptedly even after Mr. Harris had defeated Mr. Bullene at the polls in the race for the mayoralty. It was during his term as mayor that the Hannibal bridge matter came up and the city had to give an answer to the railroad company within twenty-four hours as to whether they could give a certain cash bonus-a sum which at that time seemed very large but which had been offered by another city if the railroad would extend its line there. Mayor Harris, in the face of almost overwhelming opposition but with the realization that the bridge would be the making of Kansas City, wired the railroad people that Kansas City would give the bonus. Thus the bridge was secured to Kansas City with the result that the mayor had anticipated. At the time he sent the wire the city did not have the money hut he set resolutely to work to secure it and thus win the bridge. He was a natural leader of men and the people of his community desired him to become a candidate for congress in his district but he
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refused feeling that his educational qualifications were not sufficient for the posi- tion. He was a man of most conscientious character and could never be swerved from a course which he believed to be right. At one time he was considered the leading real estate man of Kansas City and one of its wealthiest residents. In 1880 he disposed of his business there and went to Durango, Colorado, where he spent the remaining years of his life, continuing active in public affairs in the west. He was in his seventy-fourth year when he was elected mayor of Durango.
Harris L. Moore has reason to be proud of the record of both his paternal and maternal grandfathers and the course which his father pursued was also one which reflected credit and honor upon an untarnished family name.
Harris L. Moore was educated in the public schools of Kansas City, St. Louis and of Pueblo, Colorado, before entering the Missouri State University at Columbia from which he was graduated in 1892 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He taught school for a time after leaving the University and during the same period studied law by himself. In 1893 he passed an examination before the court of Sedalia, Missouri, and was admitted to the bar. About a year later he entered into a partnership at Kingston, Missouri, under the name of Wood & Moore, but after eight months he removed to Excelsior Springs where he opened an office in Novem- ber, 1895, and entered upon the general practice of law in which he has since continued. He has enjoyed a good clientage during the last quarter of a cen- tury and is classed with the able lawyers of this section of the state. In 1898 he was made a captain of Company M of the Missouri State Guards, a military organization of Clay county, and served during the Spanish-American war. On his return he resumed his law practice and for several terms filled the office of city attorney. He has also rendered valuable aid to the community as a member of the school board and is now serving as its president.
In December, 1898, Mr. Moore was married at Excelsior Springs to Miss Nancy Jones, a representative of an old Kentucky family, her birth having occurred in Kentucky just before the removal of the family to Excelsior Springs. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have become parents of four children: John, Alma, Robert and Richard. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and Mr. Moore is well known in Masonic circles, belonging to the lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party. He has ever been fond of hunting and fishing and now largely finds his recreation in gardening. He represents two of the old and prominent families of Missouri and is fortunate in that his lines of life have been passed in harmony therewith. His worth as a man and citizen is widely acknowledged and under different conditions but with equally loyal purpose he is contributing to the upbuild- ing and progress of the state just as his forefathers did in days of the early devel- opment of the commonwealth.
CHARLES D. BOLIN.
Charles D. Bolin, president and treasurer of the American Thermometer Com- pany of St. Louis, is a descendant of an old Virginian family that was represented in the Revolutionary war. He was born in Princeton, Indiana, August 29, 1866, and is a son of Benjamin T. and Alta (Baker) Bolin. At different periods during his boyhood the family home was maintained in Tennessee and in Arkansas, so that he pursued his education in the public schools of those states. He also took a com- mercial course in a business college at Memphis, Tennessee, subsequent to which time he began learning the printing trade in Forrest City, Arkansas. He was reared on a farm in the latter state and had early become familiar with the methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. His advantages were somewhat limited during his youthful days and it was after attending the public schools that he qualified for his business career by attending a commercial college at night. He was a youth of seventeen when he entered upon an apprenticeship in a printing office in Forrest City, Arkansas, and later accepted a position in a woolen mill at Jackson, Tennessee. He next entered the employ of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad Company at Memphis as an apprentice in car building and later accepted a more lucrative position with an insurance company, becoming solicitor for the
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Union Central Life Insurance Company of Memphis. He was afterward trans- ferred to St. Louis and promoted to the position of general agent, remaining with the Union Central from 1893 until 1912. At this' time he resigned because in the meantime he had invested in banking and manufacturing enterprises and had con- stantly extended his business connections, which by 1912 had become of a most important character. In 1918 he was elected president of the St. Louis & St. Charles Bridge Company and was also made president and treasurer of the Amer- ican Thermometer Company of St. Louis. He is likewise vice president of the Easton Taylor Trust Company of St. Louis, is a director of the Grand Avenue Bank and vice president of the St. Louis Crystal Water & Soda Company. His business inter- ests and connections have thus become extensive and his sound judgment and co- operation are sought in the conduct of various business concerns. He displays keen sagacity in discriminating between the essential and the non-essential in business affairs and has employed the most constructive measures in upbuilding the various interests with which he is identified.
On the 5th of June, 1889, in Memphis, Tennessee, Mr. Bolin was married to Miss Minnie Richmond, a daughter of Captain Edward and Tranquilla Richmond, the former a planter and slave owner in antebellum days in Tennessee. Both parents have passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Bolin have a family of five children: Alline; Ray, who is president of the Crystal Water & Soda Company of St. Louis; Mary Jane; Virginia; and Dorothy, who is a student in the Mary Institute of St. Louis and will graduate at the early age of sixteen. 1
Mr. Bolin is a member of the Missouri Athletic Club, also of the Glen Echo Club of St. Louis. He is well known in Masonic circles, having attained the Knights Templars degree in the York Rite and he has also taken the Scottish Rite degrees and Shrine-in fact is a member of every branch of Masonry. He belongs to the Methodist church and his life has ever been actuated by high and honorable prin- ciples. He is prominently and widely known in business and social circles, having for more than two decades been closely associated with many of the progressive business interests of St. Louis, where his ability, forcefulness and resourcefulness are widely recognized.
JAMES J. PARKS.
James J. Parks, secretary of the Missouri State Life Insurance Company, is taking active part in the upbuilding of a strong organization which has come to rank with the leading insurance companies of the middle west, its business show- ing remarkable growth and development for the past few years and especially within the past few months. This is due to the enterprise and thoroughly organ- ized plans of its officers who are taking cognizance of every condition bearing upon the insurance business and are wisely and promptly utilizing their opportunities for advancement. Mr. Parks comes to St. Louis, Missouri, from the neighboring state of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Rock Island county, January 10, 1852, his parents being Henry H. and Martha (Gingles) Parks, the former born near Colum- bus, Ohio, and of 'Scotch-Irish descent, while the mother was a native of Pennsyl- vania and a representative of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Henry H. Parks removed from Ohio to Illinois in young manhood and was married in Rock Island county, after which he located on a farm and was identified with agricultural pursuits throughout the period of his active manhood. He passed away at the age of seventy-nine years.
James J. Parks was educated at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1872, while in 1875 his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. He took up the study of law at Rock Island upon the completion of his college course and was admitted to practice at the state bar of Illinois in September, 1874. He then followed his profession in Rock Island until 1886, when he went to Wichita, Kansas, where he became a well known attorney, there remaining until 1895. In the latter year he removed to St. Louis, where he opened an office, but failing health forced him a year later to give up the practice of law and he identified himself with the New York Life Insurance Com- pany, which he represented in Dubuque, Iowa, for two and a half years. He then
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returned to St. Louis as State manager for the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of Philadelphia, with which he was connected for three and a half years. He next entered into business relations with the Franklin Life Company of Illinois, having charge of the St. Louis office, in which responsible position he con- tinued to serve for nine years. On the 6th of May, 1912, he came to the Missouri State Life Insurance Company as field secretary and in January, 1920, was elected secretary, in which position of responsibility he is now serving, taking active part in further directing and shaping the policy of the company and promoting its rapidly increasing business.
On the 30th of September, 1875, Mr. Parks was married to Miss Flora Conway, of Rock Island, Illinois, and to them were born two daughters: Cleland, now the wife of William M. Hunt, of Atlanta, Georgia; and Elizabeth, the wife of William R. Bright, living in St. Louis, Missouri.
James J. Parks is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to the First Presbyterian church, of which his wife was also a member, but she passed away on the 28th of July, 1919. He has always been active in religious work and for six years served as president of the State Sunday School Association. He is also a trustee of Westminster College at Fulton, Mis- souri, and is a trustee of the Presbyterian Orphanage of Farmington, Missouri. He likewise was for fourteen years superintendent of the Sunday school of the First Presbyterian church and for twenty years has been one of the church elders. His interest in community affairs is shown in his connection with the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. He keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day, recognizing the duties and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship. His has been an active and useful life, characterized by high ideals and fraught with untiring effort for the benefit of his fellowmen. He has ever held to advanced standards and feels that he can render no better service than to aid the young in character development, recognizing the truth of the statement enunciated centuries ago: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." He has ever commanded the respect and confidence of his fellowmen, and all who know him bear testimony to his sterling worth of character as well as to his business enterprise and progressiveness.
CHARLES NAGEL.
Charles Nagel was born in Colorado county, Texas, August 9, 1849, a son of Dr. Herman and Fredericka Nagel. His paternal grandfather was engaged in commercial pursuits and was a man of influence in his small community. The maternal grand- father and great-grandfather of Charles Nagel were Lutheran clergymen. His father was a physician, graduated at the University of Berlin, Germany, in the early forties. In the year 1847 his parents landed at New Orleans and proceeded to the interior of Texas, where they resided until. 1863, when because of his sympathy with the Union, his father was obliged to leave the south. Taking his son Charles with him he fled to Mexico. In January they left for New York by a sailing ship, and arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, in February, 1864.
In the acquirement of his education Charles Nagel attended a German country school in- Austin county, Texas, and later a German private school in St. Louis. He afterward entered the high school at St. Louis, and was there graduated in 1868. He was valedictorian of his class. His preparation for the bar was made as a student in the St. Louis Law School, in which he completed a two years' course, and also in a one year's course at the University of Berlin, Germany, where he specialized in the study of Roman law, political economy, history and kindred subjects, thus pursuing branches of study of the greatest value to him in his law practice. On again taking up his abode in St. Louis, Mr. Nagel opened a law office and through the intervening period has con- centrated his time and efforts upon his profession. The zeal with which he has devoted his energies to his law practice, the careful regard evinced for the interests of his clients and an assiduous and unrelaxing attention to all the details of his cases have hrought him a large business and made him very successful in its conduct. . He fre- quently contributes to magazines and newspapers, and devotes considerable time to
CHARLES NAGEL
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the discussion of public questions. His briefs always show wide research, careful thought, and the best and strongest reasons which can be urged for his contentions, presented in cogent and logical form and illustrated by a style unusually lucid and clear. He has been equally successful in the educational field. In 1885 he was ap- pointed to a professorship in the St. Louis Law School, a position which he filled for twenty-four years. He has been most clear in his exposition of the law and wise in his direction of the mental development of pupils along the line of jurisprudence. Aside from his professional activities he has become a director of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, the St. Louis Union Trust Company, the International Bank of St. Louis, and vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. In 1911 he received the LL.D degree from Brown University. The same degree was conferred upon him by Villanova University of Pennsylvania, and by the Wash- ington University of St. Louis. In his law practice he has maintained several partner- ship relations having, among others, been a member of the firm of Finkelnburg, Nagel & Kirby from 1903 until 1905, of the firm of Nagel & Kirby from 1905 until 1909, while in 1913, after he retired from the cabinet, he again entered upon that relation.
On the 4th of August, 1876, Mr. Nagel was married to Fannie Brandeis, of Louis- ville, Kentucky, who died in 1890. On the 1st day of May, 1895, he married Anne Shepley, of St. Louis. His children are: Hildegard Nagel; Mary S., the wife of Homer L. Sweetser, of Brookline, Massachusetts, who in 1917 volunteered for the navy and served as an ensign, being on duty first in Washington, while later he was assigned to a transport; Edith, who is the wife of Henry Augustus Rice Putnam, who was grad- uated from the Massachusetts. Institute of Technology as a mining engineer and served as a captain of engineers in the United States Army during the World war; Charles Nagel, Jr., who joined the United States Navy Reserve at Yale about the time he was to enter upon his first year's studies there and was mustered out at the close of Decem- ber, 1918, but has not yet been discharged; and Anne Dorothea.
In politics Mr. Nagel has always been a stalwart republican and is a recognized leader in the ranks of his party in Missouri. In 1881 he was called upon to represent his district in the general assembly, serving for the two years' term. In 1893 he be- came president of the St. Louis City Council, and filled that position for four years. He was a member of the republicar, national committee for 1908 until 1912 and from March, 1909, until March, 1913, was secretary of commerce and labor in the cabinet of President Taft. He is a trustee of Washington University of St. Louis, and has been a member of the board of control of the St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts. He has connection with the worth while clubs of St. Louis, including the University, St. Louis, Commercial, Round Table, Mercantile, Noonday and the St. Louis Country Club; also with the Bankers Club of New York, and the Metropolitan and Cosmos Clubs of Wash- ington, D. C. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, which was organized through his efforts as secretary of commerce and labor, he participated in the war work during 1917 and 1918, particularly as a member of the price committee and the war committee. While secretary of commerce and labor he presided over the convention of delegates representing the United States, Great Britain, Russia and Japan, which formulated the Seal Treaty, thereby putting an end to the endless and costly controversies upon that subject, and resulting in the conservation of the valuable seal herds of the several countries. He has exerted a widely felt influence over public thought and opinion in his city and state, and has had not a little to do with shaping public policy. He is usually found in those gatherings where men of intelligence are met for the discussion of vital problems, and it is well known that association with him means expansion and elevation.
MASTIN SIMPSON.
Mastin Simpson, president and general manager of the Phenix Marble Com- pany, conducting business at Nineteenth and Olive streets in Kansas City, is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He was born November 22, 1870, to Mr. and Mrs. George Elliott Simpson, and acquired his preliminary education in the Stevens Institute of New Jersey, while later he entered Princeton University at Princeton, New Jersey, as a post-graduate in the class of 1893. He has specialized in mechanical engineering and seeking the opportunities of the growing west he
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came to Kansas City as a draftsman for the National Water Works. His father was then vice president of that corporation and Mr, Simpson of this review re- mained with the company until the city purchased the system. He then returned to the east, remaining at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at Newark, New Jersey, until 1901, connected with public utilities in those cities. In the latter year he again came to Kansas City and was here made secretary and treasurer of the H. P. Wright Investment Company. In 1909 he associated himself with the Phenix Marhle Company, became president and general manager in 1913 and has so con- tinued to the present time. This company has furnished stone and marble for many notable buildings for both exterior and interior decorations throughout the United States and Canada, having contracted for eighty buildings in New York city alone. The company also supplied the inside marble decorations for the Missouri state capitol and many other fine structures throughout the west. They operate exten- sive quarries at Phenix, Missouri, near Springfield, and the business is now one of extensive and gratifying proportions. Mr. Simpson is thoroughly familiar with every phase of the business in principle and detail and his careful direction of its affairs has constituted a most important element in the growth and prosperity of the undertaking.
In 1898 Mr. Simpson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Matilda Hendrix, the second daughter of Bishop Eugene Russell Hendrix, and they have become parents of two daughters. Ann Scarritt and Mary Ellen. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church. With various trade organizations Mr. Simpson is also associated. He is a member of the executive committee and governor of District No. 8 of the International Cut Stone Contractors and Quarry- men's Association and has served as president of the Kansas City Builders Associa- tion for two terms. He is likewise a member of the board of governors of the Employers Association and is president of the Simpson Estate Company. His activities are thus extensive and he is prominently known in building circles throughout the entire industry.
GEORGE TREADWAY RIDDLE.
George Treadway Riddle, president of the Franklin Bank of St. Louis, his fative city, was born February 22, 1847, his parents being Colonel Alexander and Mary E. (Treadway) Riddle. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1802. The paternal grandfather, who was the founder of the American branch of the family, came to the new world from Scotland and crossed the mountains into western Pennsylvania, settling on a farm near Pittsburgh, where he resided until his death. His tombstone in the nearby cemetery spells his name "Riddell." It was in the latter part of the '30s that Colonel Alexander Riddle made his way west- ward to Missouri and in early life engaged in the lumber business at the corner of Biddle & Broadway in St. Louis, at which time he changed the spelling of the name to Riddle. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of the St. Louis Legion, Ninety-fifth Regiment, First Brigade, Second Division, Missouri Militia, and he was a well known figure in this city in the middle portion of the nineteenth century, here passing away in 1867. His wife, a native of Middletown, Connecticut, was a representative of one of the old families of that state of English lineage. She be- came the mother of two sons, Truman P. and George T. Riddle. She passed away in St. Louis in 1850.
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