USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 42
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
All those things which are of cultural value in life were keenly appreciated and cultivated by Mr. Berkowitz. He was greatly interested in the advancement of mu-
382
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
sical education in the city and his cooperation was given to every plan for the uplift of the individual and the betterment of the community at large. He acted as chairman of the committee on technical education of the Manufacturers & Merchants Associa- tion, was one of the directors of the Employers Association, was president of the Uni- versity Extension lectures held at Grand Avenue Temple during a period of five years and gave much time and energy to the promotion of the projects which the organiza- tion supported. He was a man of the broadest philanthropic spirit and was an active promoter of much benevolent and charitable work, while his name was also closely linked with religious and civic affairs. One of the most definitely beneficial activities in the life of William J. Berkowitz was that in which, in 1906, he federated all of the Jewish charities of Kansas City. At that time there were a number of organizations planned to aid the unfortunate, each duplicating the efforts of the other, with very little result attained in proportion to the amount of time, energy and money expended. It was Mr. Berkowitz who conceived the plan of uniting these into a great organiza- tion which would do away with this duplication of effort and his work resulted in the systemization of these charities and improving their method of aiding the poor. He served as president of the society for five years, when he was succeeded by Alfred Benjamin. As the result of his labors the greatest possible good was accomplished for the benefit of those who needed assistance and most generous response was made to his call for aid for the unfortunate. The story of his activities for the benefit of his fellowmen was splendidly told by the press of Kansas City when he passed away at La Jolla, California, February 4, 1920. The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle wrote: "The life of William J. Berkowitz is a bright page in the history of our city. His active participation in all affairs for the general good, his public spirit, the high offices which he held, the leadership which he displayed, all combined to make him one of the marked men of our city, not only within our Jewish community, but also in the larger community of our city and throughout all the states of the Union. He was an indefatigable worker for all that is best and noblest and truest. The memory of the services he gave to the community will be secure from the withering touch of time. In his office as president of the United Jewish Charities as well as in all the other relations of life he was a man of lofty ideals and tireless activity. His administration as president of our charities laid the foundations of the great and beneficent organization which we now have. His progressiveness in this office made it possible for our local organization to become one of the first Jewish charities in the country to federate all the Jewish philanthropies under one head. When William J. Berkowitz assumed office in the various societies that exalted him to leadership he was not content to drift along with the current. He felt that office implied responsibility. His record as a leader is brilliant because for him leadership meant duty and obligation. He worked all the harder after he had been honored than before he was honored. He did not belong to the category of those who cease their efforts when they have reached the goal of personal distinction. In office, as well as out of office, he was an arduous worker and an indefatigable toiler for the welfare of others. To repeat the story of his life among us would be superfluous. He was known to almost every man, woman and child in Kansas City by name if not personally. The difficulty in eulogizing him, in picking out those particular incidents of his life that are most impressive, that are most profitable for us to consider, is the very wealth of deeds that are recorded to his credit. He was a loyal American and a devoted Kansas Citian. His professions of love for his country and his city were not empty, hollow phrases. His deeds proved that this was so. The commercial integrity that was the twin brother of his communal activ- ity was accepted as being so much a matter of fact that it was hardly ever referred to. People did not need to say that his business was conducted honestly. They did not need to bolster up his mercantile reputation by telling of his integrity, his probity. In the vast business concern in which he was engaged so successfully he has builded himself a monument. The education of his children was the great ambition of his married life, and when they graduated from the schools to which he sent them, the best schools in the land, how his father heart must have thrilled with joy wheu the diploma was awarded them, signalizing the commencement of a wider career of use- fulness for them. His heart has ceased to beat, let us not forget the services which he has rendered to the community. Let us wrap a mantle of communal gratitude around him: and when we repeat the biography of William J. Berkowitz to posterity and iterate the tale of his life to coming generations they and we will be better for our not for- getting him as a communal leader."
.
383
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
Another of the local papers said: "A great man has died, passed from us quietly and peacefully just as his great achievements were accomplished without blare or acclaim, but with the deep respect and the love and esteem of all his fellowmen. The Jewish community of Kansas City has lost one of its most precious, active and con- structive figures. To him more than to any other man is due the increasing respect and understanding that the non-Jewish world maintains for the Jew in this city. He was the embodiment of the Jewish ideal of citizenship and expressed as such the high- est type of the loyal and true American. Not only the Jewish community of this city has suffered greatly, but the entire city and state and nation.
"William J. Berkowitz was a pioneer in Kansas City, for he came here when the city was nothing more than a small town. Opportunities were not nearly as great then as they are today, but a man of his type soon creates his own opportunities. He was a pioneer and a builder of Kansas City because many projects of civic better- ment and public welfare originated in his mind and exist today as everlasting monu- ments to his broad vision.
"There was no movement or enterprise that tended to increase the cultural and intellectual standing of the city that did not have the whole-hearted support of William J. Berkowitz. Not only did he devote a great measure of his time and ability, but his purse was always open and he lavished generous material gifts on the projects which. he believed would benefit his fellowmen. Mr. Berkowitz was greatly interested in the University Extension lectures. Miss Mary Andrews was the founder and first pres- ident of the University Extension lectures, which, until the time when Mr. Berkowitz took charge, had a very limited membership. Mr. Berkowitz was elected president after Miss Andrews resigned and moved from Kansas City, and through his efforts the activities of this center were enlarged, so that all who sought this higher educa- tion were permitted to attend these lecture courses. The people of Kansas City were given an opportunity, through this course, to hear some of the greatest men and women of this country. When at times enthusiasm for these lectures was dimmed and the possibility of their discontinuance imminent, Mr. Berkowitz did not despair, but kept this noble idea alive, many times single-handed. He also gave considerable atten- tion to the advancement of musical education.
"The great foresight and interest in the beautification of his city led him to initiate the first project of civic planning and his ideas took permanent form when the Civic Planning Commission was recently organized. He was one of a committee of three men that represented various civic organizations to confer with the mayor on this project. His ideas on the beautification of various parts of the city, particularly its parks and boulevards, were practically expert. He aided materially in the planning of the bridge and boulevard system at Swope Park and showed his generous interest by offering the city thirteen acres of forty acres that he owned adjoining Swope Park, which he desired the city to use as a lake. This offer still holds good and will be carried out at the proper time by his heirs.
"Mr. Berkowitz was a keen student of our modern social problems. He viewed the condition of the poor and needy as one that demanded the attention of practical men. He felt that the social problem of the poor was the problem of all mankind. He was one of the first men in this country to conceive the idea of social service institutional federation. He carried this idea into concrete form when, in 1890, as president of the Jewish Relief Association of Kansas City, he coordinated the five charitable organ- izations which existed at that time and which were almost in direct competition with each other, causing expensive duplication of effort. He brought these organizations to- gether and founded the United Jewish Charities, of which he became the first presi- dent, and which has been a model for similar federated effort in all American cities. He was one of the most active spirits behind the Jewishı Educational Institute. He was particularly interested in training the child so that he would be properly equipped to fight the economic battles of life. He was chairman of the committee on vocational training for children of the Manufacturers & Merchants Association.
"During the war Mr. Berkowitz expressed by definite works his high quality of patriotism and loyalty to the country of his birth. He was called to Washington as a member of a committee to aid the government in standardizing certain printing forms with which he was familiar. In every Liberty loan drive, recruiting and war work campaigns, in the campaign fund drives for the relief of Jewish war sufferers, and in all other war drives, Mr. Berkowitz took a most active and prominent part and his name was always far up in the list of donors and contributors to these funds.
384
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
"The diversity of his interests marked him as a man of the broadest culture. An enumeration of the movements and organizations with which he was affiliated during his busy lifetime would be almost a repetition of the history of the communal life of Kansas City during the past thirty years. Besides the activities already mentioned, he served as president of Temple B'nai Jehudah in 1901 and 1902. He was a director of the Fine Arts Institute, a director of the Kansas City Institute for the Blind, a director of Swope Settlement to which he gave considerable of his time and money and he was a member of the board of directors of the Employers Association. He was president of the Manufacturers Association for two terms before its consolidation with the Chamber of Commerce. During his administration the famous 'Home Products Shows' was one of the features of the city life of Kansas City.
"Always seeking to devise ways and means eliminating unnecessary effort to carry out the idea of coordination and cooperation so that the very best efforts of good minds could be brought together for increased mutual benefit, Mr. Berkowitz was the originator of the idea of bringing together in one association the envelope manufac- turers of this country, of whom he was one of the leading figures. Through his efforts the American Envelope Manufacturers' Association was formed and Mr. Berkowitz was elected president in 1914-1915.
"A lover of mankind, a soul sympathetic and lovable, an ideal father and husband, a respected and honored citizen has gone to his eternal rest. Time with its healing na- ture will soften and lighten the poignancy of the grief which is now felt by his family and friends, but the memory of William J. Berkowitz and his good works, his noble character and kindly disposition will live long in the memory of all who knew him."
EDWIN S. HALLETT.
Edwin S. Hallett, chief engineer for the board of education at St. Louis, was born at Borden, Indiana, September 4, 1862, and is a son of John M. Hallett, like- wise a native of the Hoosier state. The family was founded in America by Andrew Hallett, who came from Plymouth, England, in 1635 and settled near Boston at Barnstable, Massachusetts. Thomas Hallett, the great-grandfather of Edwin S. Hallett, was a soldier of the American army in the Revolutionary war. The grand- father, Samuel Hallett, left the east in 1819 and removed to Indiana, where he took up government land which is still in possession of the family, having been transferred from father to son. John M. Hallett was reared and educated in In- diana and turned his attention to farming and stock raising on the old homestead, where he continued to reside until his death. He was an active republican and his opinions carried weight in the councils of his party in the district in which he resided. He belonged to the Disciples church and was a man of most religious spirit, giving earnest support to the church and doing everything in his power to uplift his fellow men. He had attained the age of seventy-seven years when he passed away in 1910. His wife, who died in 1904 at the age of sixty-six years, bore the maiden name of Louisa Martin and was a native of Kentucky, while her ancestry was of the Pennsylvania Dutch line, with also a Scotch strain. The an- cestral history can be traced back to 1800. To Mr. and Mrs. Hallett were born four children, three sons and a daughter, of whom three are yet living.
Edwin S. Hallett was educated in the public schools of Borden, Indiana, and after completing the work of the high school there entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1885. His early life to the age of nineteen years was spent upon the home farm and he early became familiar with the duties and labors incident to the development and improvement of the fields. He then took up educational work and became principal of the schools at Corydon, Indiana, while later he was superintendent of the Teachers College at that place, filling the two positions from 1890 until 1904. During this time he studied engineering and in the latter year he became superintendent of trade schools and also ex officio chief engineer of the Indiana Reformatory for boys at Jeffersonville, Indiana. He served in that capacity for three years in connection with this institution. He afterward entered the government service at Louisville, Kentucky, and there remained from 1907 until 1908, when he was transferred to St. Louis in connection with the operation, in-
EDWIN S. HALLETT
Vol. V-25
387
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
spection and construction of government buildings. He remained in the govern- ment service until 1917, when he accepted the position of chief engineer for the board of education. He has since been thus identified with the public interests of the city and is making a most excellent record in his present position.
On the 19th of July, 1887, at Jeffersonville, Indiana, Mr. Hallett was married to Miss Emma K. Piers, a native of that place and a daughter of J. C. and Mar- garet P. (Gregory) Piers, the latter from Louisville, Kentucky, and still a resident of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Hallett have become the parents of two children: Mary, the wife of Philip Gronemeyer, an instructor in the manual training schools of St. Louis; and Samuel'G., who spent three years at Washington University, pur- suing a mechanical engineering course. During the war he entered the officers' training camp on Pelham bay, New York, and was also at the Stevens Institute at Hoboken. He entered the navy as a machinist and later was commissioned an ensign, serving for one year. He received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering at Purdue University, 1920.
In his political views Mr. Hallett has always been a steadfast republican. Fra- ternally he is connected with Clarke Lodge, No. 40, A. F. & A. M., at Jefferson- ville, Indiana, and he also belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution. He has membership in the Union Avenue Christian church of St. Louis, in which he is serving as an elder, and for many years he has been doing Y. M. C. A. mission work. He has recently organized and established a Y. M. C. A. at Granite City, Illinois, where he is personally conducting and aiding in the secular, moral and religious training of a large foreign alien citizens' class. He is thus showing his keen interest in Americanization and is doing everything in his power to bring before those of foreign birth a right conception of the high ideals of American life. Along professional lines Mr. Hallett has various membership connections. He is now the president of the St. Louis chapter of the American Heating & Ventilating Engineers, is a member of the Society of Constructors of Federal Buildings and of the St. Louis Engineers Club. Thoroughness has ever characterized his efforts in every relation and it has been by reason of his close application, perseverance and energy that he has gained a prominent position in engineering circles, being widely known throughout the country in this connection. Business, however, has only been one phase of his life, and while he has made steady advancement along the line of his chosen profession he has found time and opportunity to cooperate in movements looking to the welfare and benefit of the individual and the com- munity at large. Citizenship is to him no mere idle phrase and he has at all times recognized his obligations and duties as well as his privileges as an American citizen. He is thus seeking to promote American principles before the foreign born and in his church work is constantly reaching out along broadening lines for the moral uplift of his fellow men.
GEORGE ELLIOTT SIMPSON.
Centuries ago the wise men of old said: "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," and throughout his entire career George Elliott Simpson seemed ever to have had this statement in mind. While he won success of a most gratifying and desirable character he was never known to take advantage of the necessities of his fellowmen in any business transaction and his work at all times measured up to the highest ethical standards. He was prominently known in both the east and the west as a man of marked capability, possessed of a high sense of honor and actuated In all that he did by a recognition of the rights and privileges of others. He was born in Gallatin, Tennessee, February 22, 1833, and came of Scotch ancestry in the paternal line, while on the distaff side be was of French descent. His grandfather, Colonel Richard Simpson, was one of the most noted of the "Roundheads" of North Carolina and represented Cornwell county in the house of commons. His father, Benjamin F. Simpson, removed from Gallatin, Tennessee, to Missouri in 1841, estab- lishing his home about a mile north of Independence and in 1846 took up his abode in the city in order that his children might enjoy better educational opportunities.
George E. Simpson attended the local schools and afterward continued his studies In Chapel Hill College in Lafayette county, while still later he pursued higher mathe-
388
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
maties and language under the instruction of Rev. Nathan Scarritt at Shawnee Mis- sion near Westport. At that period western Missouri was still largely an unsettled and undeveloped district and Mr. Simpson contributed largely to its promotion and growth by inaugurating many important business and public interests. For a time he was associated with the firm of Alexander & Majors who had a government contract for transportation along the old Santa Fe Trail. In 1853 Mr. Simpson established a store at Sibley on the Missouri river in Jackson county but in the following year left his mercantile interests to make a trip to California, where he resided for two years. Again he became a resident of Independence in 1856 and entered the banking house of Turner & Thornton, thus becoming an active factor in financial circles of Jackson county. Soon after his marriage he removed to Kansas City and was assistant cashier of the Old Union Bank of which H. M. Northrup was president. In 1861 the bank was burglarized by "Redlegs" from Kansas. The daring robbery was com- mitted in the daytime and not long after the Rev. Thomas Johnson, who had suc- ceeded to the presidency, was killed. Tragic events of this character were not un- common during the troublous period of the Civil war. Mr. Simpson was in the bank at the time of the robbery and went through all of the period of trouble and unrest in western Missouri until 1862 when he left Kansas City and went east to New York.
With his arrival in the metropolis Mr. Simpson joined H. M. Northrup and J. S. Chick in organizing the bank of Northrup & Chick and continued with that firm until January, 1871, when the bank of Donnell, Lawson & Simpson was established at No. 4 Wall street, New York. This became one of the most noted financial organizations of the time and was largely the financial promoter of the railway systems of Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The railway between New York and Philadelphia, known as the "Bond Route," owed its existence to this house. Through his financial operations in the east Mr. Simpson continued to contribute in large measure to the development of Kansas City, for the company with which he was connected acted as fiscal agents for Kansas aud Arkansas for a number of years.
It was while living in Kansas City, in 1858, that Mr. Simpson wedded Miss Ellen Young, representative of a prominent and influential family of Jackson county that had come to Missouri from Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1844. Mrs. Simpson was born in Gallatin, Mississippi, in 1841, and by her marriage she became the mother of eleven children, six of whom are living: Dr. James Young Simpson, medical director of the Southwest Sanatorium of Kansas City; Ellen Lee; Eliza Bell; Mary Louise; George Elliott, treasurer and sales manager of the Phenix Marble Company; and Martin Simpson, president and general manager of the Phenix Marble Company. Four children-George Sanders, Laura and Maude, all died in childhood, while Law- rence Raymond passed away in Kansas City in 1892 and Frank Simpson of the firm of Simpson & Groves died in 1909. The son of Dr. James Y. Simpson, James Y. Simp- son, Jr., was one of the young men of Kansas City who was called upon to make the supreme sacrifice in the World war. In fact he was one of the first of the American troops who met death in the great struggle when the American forces were first thrown into the line as a unit. He belonged to the Eighty-second Company of the Sixth Ma- rines and volunteered in less than three weeks after war was declared. He was cited for valor in action by the commander of his division and he volunteered when in train- ing at Quantico for the machine gun squad, commonly known as The Suicide Club. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the commanding general of the French army. He volunteered to lead a squad against what was known as Hell's Nest, the most strongly fortified machine gun position in Belleau Woods and there met death in action when the Marines were thrown into the battle between the broken lines of the French troops and turned the tide of war, bringing a victory that resulted in a con- tinual pushing back of the German troops until they were forced across their own border. The letters which this young man wrote to his parents were such as they will ever tenderly cherish. On one occasion he said: "I want to thank you, as your son, I want to thank you for the gift of a clean, strong and vigorous body that can serve America in her need. Most of all I want to thank you for the long years of self- denial that made my education possible, for the guidance and teaching that kept me. straight through the days of my youth, for the counsel ever freely given and for all the noble things in your example."
The death of Mr. George Elliott Simpson was occasioned by an accident while returning from the Quindaro. pumping station in a buggy with: Charles A. Jones. The horse became frightened, the vehicle was overturned and the injuries which Mr.
389
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
Simpson sustained caused his death on the 11th of April, 1893. While a resident of Kansas City he had been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and served as one of the original trustees of the old Fifth street church which was the first Methodist church, South, of this city. In New York he held membership in a number of the leading clubs, including the Manhattan, the Down Town, the South- ern Society, the Adirondack Preserve Association, the Essex County Club, the Orange Athletic Club, the Essex County Toboggan Club and the New England Society. He also belonged to the New York Chamber of Commerce and was a director in the Na- tional Bank of the Republic. While in the east the family home was maintained at East Orange, New Jersey, from 1871 until 1880 and later in Orange, New Jersey, until 1892, with the exception of one winter spent in New York that better educational ad- vantages might be accorded the children. In 1892 Mr. Simpson severed his business connections in the east and returned to Kansas City, where he became the vice presi- dent of the National Water Works Company and so continued to the time of his demise. A contemporary writer has said of him: "Mr. Simpson was devoted to his home and family and regarded no personal sacrifice or effort on his part too great if it would promote the happiness and enhance the welfare of his wife and children. He ever held to high ideals in citizenship and had firm faith in Kansas City and its future, which faith he manifested in the active co-operation which he gave to various interests and movements in which the city was a direct beneficiary. The principles which gov- erned his life were those which develop upright, honorable manhood. He was the asso- ciate and warm personal friend of many distinguished residents of New York as well as of Kansas City and left to his family a most honored name." In politics Mr. Simp- son was a stanch democrat and a very active party worker and was prominently known to many of the leading political leaders of the party in the east but never sought nor desired political preferment. He was a thirty-second degree Mason and a loyal fol- lower of the teachings of the craft. He possessed a wonderful personality and was a dominant figure for many years in both the east and the west. Those who knew him, and he had a very wide acquaintance, esteemed him highly as a most capable man, one of wide vision and of dynamic force.
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.