USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 45
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His entire life since completing his educational course has been devoted to the work of the ministry of the Episcopal church. From 1884 until 1900, or for a period of sixteen years, he was engaged in missionary labor in China. He was afterward principal of the Boone school at Wuchang and was an instructor in St. John's College at Shanghai. In 1900 he became bishop of Kyoto, Japan, and there continued his labors until 1911, when he returned to the United States and through the intervening period has been bishop of the diocese of west Missouri.
On the 27th of November, 1901, in San Francisco, California, Dr. Partridge was married to Miss Agnes L. L. Simpson, a daughter of John Simpson, Esq., Danish consul general at San Francisco. He was decorated by the king of Den- mark with the Medal of Valor and was also knighted as Ritter of Dannebrog. To Dr. and Mrs. Partridge has been born a daughter, Amalia Ortwed Lucy Partridge, whose birth occurred in San Francisco, California, August 28, 1904.
Dr. Partridge is chaplain of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati and is state chaplain for Missouri of the Sons of the American Revolution, which indi- cates his connection with two of the leading patriotic societies of the country. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and in club circles he is well known as a member of the University Club, the City Club and the Country Club of Kansas City. It would be tautological in this connection to enter into any series
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of statements showing Dr. Partridge to be a man of broad scholarly attainments and of wide general information, for this has been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. Those who know him, and he has a wide acquaintance, in speaking of his career stress not only his intellectual force but also the kindly spirit and broad humanitarianism of the man who had made a close study of humankind and the motive springs of human conduct and who in all the relations of life has been actuated by a deep sympathy that seeks the development of the best in the individual not only as a factor for personal advancement but as an ele- ment in the world's work.
MERRILL G. SKINNER.
Merrill G. Skinner, secretary and treasurer of the Skinner Brothers Manufac- turing Company of St. Louis, is a native son of this state, his birth having occurred in Springfield on the 27th of July, 1881. His father, George J. Skinner, was born in the state of New York but came to Missouri in 1860, settling at Springfield where he engaged in general merchandising. In 1890 he removed to St. Louis and here turned his attention to the manufacture of blow pipe under the firm style of Skinner & Sons. He continued active in this field of business until 1905 when he retired altogether from business life, spending his remaining days in the enjoy- ment of a rest which he had truly earned and richly deserved. He passed away in 1915. His wife, Mrs. Emma Skinner, was also born in the Empire state and they were married in New York before coming to Missouri.
Merrill G. Skinner obtained a public school education in his native city and starting out in the business world became associated with his father in the manu- facture of blow pipe. In 1914 when the business was incorporated under the name of the Skinner Brothers Manufacturing Company he was made the secretary and treasurer and still occupies this position. His activities have been a forceful factor in the development of the business, which is constantly growing. The company manufactured material and furnished information for the government during the World war and Mr. Skinner was not called upon for overseas service but was given an honorable discharge certificate from the government for aid which he had ren- dered along the line of his business. He is now a director of the Southwestern State Bank.
In St. Louis, on the 5th of July, 1903, Mr. Skinner was married to Miss Lillian Stager, a daughter of Carey Stager, prominent in connection with the manufacture of clay products. Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have two children: Ralph M. and Clara L.
Politically Mr. Skinner is an independent republican and fraternally is a Scot- tish Rite Mason and member of Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Silver Lake Hunting & Fishing Club and the nature of his interests is further indicated in the fact that he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. Nor is he neglectful of the higher and holier duties of life for he belongs to the First Christian church and con- tributes generously to its support, taking an active interest in all that pertains to its work and the accomplishment of its purposes.
CHARLES H. BERRY.
Winning his advancement through thoroughness, capability and faithfulness, Charles H. Berry is now a branch manager with the Shaw-Walker Company of St. Louis. He was born in this city November 4, 1882, and is a son of Benjamin H. Berry and a grandson of Harold Berry. The family is of English lineage and was founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war, settlement being originally made in Vir- ginia. Harold Berry, removing westward to Missouri, took up his abode in Cape Girardeau about 1820. His son, Benjamin H. Berry, was there born and was reared and educated at that place. From early manhood he has followed the river as a cap- tain and pilot and is still active at the age of more than eighty years, his birth having occurred in 1840. During the Civil war he was on government boats. In politics he
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has always affiliated with the democratic party but has never sought nor filled public office. He wedded Mary Elton who was born in St. Louis and represents one of the pioneer families of the city, founded here during the Spanish reign by Joseph Ortiz who was a surgeon of the Spanish army. Mrs. Berry also survives and by her mar- riage she became the mother of two sons and two daughters.
Charles H. Berry, the youngest of the family, was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and in the Christian Brothers College at Memphis, Tennessee, where he was graduated in 1903 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. At the age of twenty-one years he started out to earn his own livelihood and was first employed by the Rock- well-Wabash Company at San Francisco, predecessors of the Shaw-Walker Company. In this business he has been continuously engaged and in 1914, after having traveled for the company for ten years, he was made manager, to which position he had risen through continuous advancement and which he had well earned by reason of his capa- bility and the gradual development of his powers. The firm employs in its local branch about thirty persons and the business has been developed to this extent since Mr. Berry took charge here, for at that time there were but two employes in the St. Louis office.
On the 30th of July, 1914, in St. Louis, Mr. Berry was married to Miss Adrienne Dunn, a native of this city and a daughter of George and Ina (Power) Dunn, the latter now living, while the former has passed away. Mr. Berry is a member of St. Roch's Roman Catholic church and in politics his position is that of an independent republican. He was one of the Four-Minute speakers during the World war and was active in support of all war movements and the various projects which constituted the home support of the soldiers in the field. At one time he was a member of Com- pany G of the Missouri National Guard, identified with the First Regiment for five years as sergeant and as member of the rifle team. He belongs to the Missouri Athletic Association, to the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club and the National Asso- ciation of Credit Men, of which he served for two years as a director. An analyzation of his career brings to light no esoteric phase but shows at all times a constructive policy and that his success is due entirely to his own efforts and perseverance.
EDWARD EVERETT LONGAN.
Admitted to the bar in 1888, Edward Everett Longan has since taking up active practice in St. Louis given his attention exclusively to patent and trade-mark law and has a most extensive and important clientage of that character. He was born on a farm in Moniteau county, Missouri, September 8, 1865, and is a son of William Ludwell and Polly Ann (Yows) Longan. In the acquirement of his education he attended the University of Missouri, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Belles-Lettres degree in 1886. He then took up the profession of teaching and while thus engaged at Boonville, Missouri, also read law under the direction of W. M. Williams, a former judge of the supreme court of Missouri. Largely master- ing the principles of jurisprudence he was admitted to the bar of the state in 1888, and in 1889 the degree of Master of Letters was conferred upon him by the Univer- sity of Missouri. Desirous, however, of further perfecting himself in his choseu profession, he entered Yale and was graduated in 1890 with the LL. B. degree. He at once returned to St. Louis, where he opened an office and through the intervening period of thirty years has confined his attention entirely to patent and trade-mark law, representing some of the largest interests of this section of the country in that connection. He was counsel in the famous "Tea Rose" case before the United States Supreme Court, in which the territorial extent of trade-marks was involved. He was also counselor in the Blackburn cable hanger cases before the United States Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, and in the Lava Soap case in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, besides many other notable patent and trade-mark cases. There is no phase of law having to do with patents and trade-marks with which he is not thoroughly familiar and his practice of this character has been most extensive and important.
On the 2d of September, 1895, Mr. Longan was married to Miss Hattie Aronson and they occupy an enviable social position. They attend the Baptist church and in Masonry Mr. Longan has attained high rank, having taken the thirty-second
EDWARD E. LONGAN
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degree in the Scottish Rite. He turns to farm life for recreation, spending his leisure time upon his farm property in St. Louis county, and in the outdoor life maintains an even balance to that intense professional activity demanded in the prosecution of the legal interests entrusted to his care.
HANFORD CRAWFORD.
There is perhaps no life history in this volume which indicates more clearly the possibilities of successful achievement on the part of the individual than does that of Hanford Crawford. Starting out in the business world in a humble capacity as an employe in a wholesale mercantile house in New York he has steadily progressed by force of character and ability until he has become the chief executive head of one of the foremost dry goods houses in the Mississippi valley, being for the past ten years president of the Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney Company of St. Louis. A native of New York he was born in Ossining, February 12, 1856, his parents being Rev. M. D'C. and Charlotte (Holmes) Crawford. The father, a native of Albany, New York, was a Methodist minister who devoted fifty-seven years of his life to the active work of the church in and near New York. His teachings were an inspiration to many, while his example even more than his precepts pointed out to others the way of life. He was descended from Revolutionary war ancestry as was his wife, who was a native of Newburg, New York, and she passed away in 1886. For eleven years Rev. Dr. Crawford survived her and was called to his final rest in 1897.
In his youthful days Hanford Crawford attended the public schools of New York city and after completing his high school course became a student in the College of the City of New York from which he was graduated with the class of 1875. Previous to this time, however, he had had two years' business experience in the wholesale men's furnishing house of Fisk, Clark & Flagg of New York. When his college course was finished he took up the profession of teaching which he followed in the public schools of New York city and later went abroad, spending three and a half years in university life in Germany and France.
In 1881 Mr. Crawford returned to his native country and the following year be- came an employe of the house of James McCreery & Company of New York city, but was ambitious to engage in business on his own account and sought the chance and opportunity for carrying out this desire. St. Louis seemed to present to him a favorable field and in 1899 he came to this city and purchased an interest in the large dry goods house of Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney, one of the high class mercantile establishments of the Mississippi valley. Mr. Crawford was at once elected to the vice presidency and accordingly concentrated his efforts and attention upon adminis- trative direction of the affairs of the house. Following the demise of Mr. Scruggs in 1904 he was elected to the presidency and has since continued in this position. A contemporary writer has said of him, "He is eminently a man of business sense and easily avoids the mistakes and disasters that come to those who though possessing remarkable faculties in some respects are liable to erratic movement that results in unwarranted risk and failure. His well planned enterprise, his judgment and even placed energy generally carry him forward to the goal of success and to his duties he brings a spirit of determination that has enabled him successfully to solve the intri- cate and complex problems that have arisen." Aside from his mercantile interests he was a director of the Boatmen's Bank and his co-operation is eagerly sought because of the recognized value of his judgment and the worth of his progressive spirit. His opinions carry weight in the Retail Merchants Association of which he has served as vice president, in the Business Men's League of which he has done important com- mittee work, in the Million Population Club and as an advisory member of the Civic League.
In New York City, November 11, 1886, Mr. Crawford married Miss M. Gertrude Smith, a native of Massachusetts and a daughter of the Rev. Edward P. Smith, a Congregational minister who at one time was commissioner of Indian affairs in Waslı- ington. During the Civil war period he was field agent of the United States Christian commission and at the time of his death was the president of the Howard University at Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford have one daughter, Ruth, who was edu- cated in Vassar College. Mr. Crawford is identified with the Masonic fraternity,
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belonging to Tuscan Lodge, No. 360, A. F. & A. M., and he also has membership with the Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Kappa Epsilon, two college fraternities. He is a mem- ber of the Aldine Club of New York city and is well known socially in St. Louis through his connection with the St. Louis, Mercantile, Noonday, St. Louis Country, Glen Echo Country, Contemporary and Methodist Clubs. He has been president of the Commercial Club and his support and co-operation have at all times been counted upon for valuable aid and service in connection with the development of the city and support of its best interests. He stands as a splendid example of one hundred per cent Americanism. He ever recognizes the duties and obligations as well as the privi- leges and opportunities of citizenship and he believes it to be the duty of every indi- vidual to support his political position by an intelligent exercise of his right of fran- chise. He belongs to the twenty-eighth ward republican organization and believing stanchly in the principles of the republican party puts forth earnest and effective efforts for its success. He made the trip to Panama with Walter B. Stevens being much interested in the government work that is being carried on there at the present time. His church connection is with Grace Methodist Episcopal church and he has been a director of the Federation for Social Service and president of the St. Louis Symphony Society. A man of well balanced capacities and powers he has long occupied a central place on the stage of action and his labors have found culmination not only in the development of one of the most important dry goods houses of St. Louis but also in the promotion of many projects for the public good. His is the record of a strenuous life-the record of a strong individuality, sure of himself, stable in purpose, quick in perception, swift in decision, energetic and persistent in action.
MEINOLPH J. GREWE.
The building trades are becoming almost as much differentiated as are the professions. Especially in the large cities one seldom finds a prominent contractor and builder who gives his attention to all lines of construction work; on the con- trary he usually specializes on a particular class of building and in this connection the John Grewe Construction Company, of which Meinolph J. Grewe is the president and general manager, has become well known, for the company is largely engaged in the erection of institutional buildings, churches, schools, factories and ware- houses, and St. Louis shows many evidences of their handiwork. Mr. Grewe was born in this city March 17, 1887, a son of the late John Grewe, who was a native of Germany and on crossing the Atlantic in 1884 came direct to St. Louis, where he resided until his death April 23, 1919, when fifty-one years of age. He was a con- tractor and the organizer of the John Grewe Construction Company, which is rated as one of the leading firms of its kind in the state. John Grewe wedded Minna Weisenborn, a native of Belleville, Illinois, and of German descent. She died in 1891, at the age of thirty years, leaving an only child, Meinolph J. The father afterward wedded Miss Elizabeth Ortman, also a native of Germany, and they be- came parents of six children, two sons and four daughters. The second Mrs. Grewe is still a resident of St. Louis.
Meinolph J. Grewe was educated in parochial schools and also spent a year as a student in SS. Peter and Paul high school. He is likewise a graduate of the Southwestern Business College of St. Louis. When fourteen years of age he began learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed as a journeyman until 1910, when he became a member of the John Grewe Construction Company, serving as secre- tary and treasurer until his father's death, when he became president and has since remained the executive head of the concern. The company does a general con- struction business but has always given especial attention to institutional build- ings, churches, schools, factories and warehouses and has gained an extensive patrónage in that class of construction work.
On the 11th of November, 1908, in St. Louis, Mr. Grewe was married to Miss Elizabeth Schwalbe, a native of this city and a daughter of August M. and Anna (Moelenbrock) Schwalbe. The four children of this marriage are: Anastasia, born in St. Louis, September 26, 1909; Alois, born November 7, 1912; Leona, born De- cember 27, 1915; and Vincent, who was born September 23, 1914, and died Jan- uary 5, 1915.
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Mr. Grewe has always voted with the republican party. He belongs to the Master Builders Association, to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, to the Normandie Golf Club and the Riverview Club. He is a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus and is a communicant of the St. Augustine Roman Cath- olic church. His wife passed away in St. Louis, January 4, 1916, at the age of thirty-one years. Mr. Grewe resides with his children at No. 2918 Hebert street. Progress has been his watchword since he started out in the business world. It is true that he had the prestige and assistance of a business name that already figured prominently in industrial circles, but as the years have passed he has kept in close touch with the trend of the times in building operations and in fact has shown a spirit of leadership in his chosen field of labor.
CLARENCE CAMPBELL CROSSMAN.
Clarence Campbell Crossman, vice president of the Skinner & Kennedy Stationery Company of St. Louis, manufacturing stationers, was born in this city, April 15, 1870, a son of Robert Burns and Mary Frances (Finagan) Crossman, the latter a daughter of Joseph C. Finagan who was one of the victims of the Gasconade disaster. The latter was identified with the Glass Manufacturing Industry of St. Louis and was one of the promoters of the Ornamental Glass Manufacturing Industry in the city, coming here from Cincinnati, Ohio. In the paternal line the family comes of English ancestry. The grandfather of Clarence C. Crossman was a native of England and was a printer by trade, representing a family of printers in that country having for several generations been connected with the printing and publishing business there. Various members of the family were knighted in the early history of England when printing was considered one of the arts. Robert Burns Crossman became a newspaper man and publisher in early life and founded the first republican newspaper of St. Louis county, known as the Star-Republican. This was issued in Clayton and won a liberal patronage. In later years he was ordained to the ministry and for many years was known as a prominent representative of the Presbyterian synod throughout the state. He is now living retired in Clayton. In early manhood he married Mary Frances Finagan, who was a school teacher of Clayton and in the early days had among her pupils many men who are today numbered among the most prominent citizens of the county.
Clarence Campbell Crossman was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and from his earliest youth was acquainted with the printing trade. When a lad of but fourteen years he accepted a position in the publishing house of A. N. Kellogg News- paper Company and devoted his attention to newspaper work for five years. When twenty years of age he turned his attention to the job printing business in connection with C. B. Woodward, a brother of the senior partner of the firm of Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company. Later Mr. Crossman became connected with the Perrin & Smith Printing Company as foreman of the composing room and subsequently became superintendent of the plant, remaining in that position until 1900 when the firm of Skinner & Kennedy was formed and Mr. Crossman accepted the position of superin- tendent of the new organization. He later became secretary of the firm and five years later was elected vice president. This has been a growing concern, the business having steadily increased under the direction of competent and far-sighted officials whose progressive methods have been manifest in the constant expansion of their trade.
In 1892 Mr. Crossman was married to Miss Jessie A. Williams of California, Mis- souri, and to them have been born three children: Mary Frances, the eldest, is now the wife of R. B. Dishman, district manager of the Elliott Fisher Company of Cincinnati, Ohlo, and they have two children, R. B. and Georgia Leigh; Grace Leigh is the wife of Lieutenant Durward R. Davis of Marshall, Missouri; Lillian Frances is still a pupil in the public schools.
Mr. Crossman is a member of Clayton Lodge, No. 601, A. F. & A. M. He finds recreation and diversion in hunting and for several years was vice president and later for three years president of the United States Revolver Association, and is the vice president of the National Rifle Association of America. He was also organizer of the St. Louis Trap Shooters Association, is president of the Mound City Rifle Club, and is president of the St. Louis Colonial Revolver Club. He is serving as ordnance officer
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with the rank of major on the Governor's staff. In 1911 he won the national revolver championship and holds the world indoor revolver record. During the war he trained hundreds of men in marksmanship for the service. Mr. Crossman belongs to the Riverview Club and is also a member of the Clayton Presbyterian church. Mr. Crossman is president of the Clayton school board, upon which board he has served for ten years. He has also been a member of the Clayton city council for four years. The activities of his life have been those which make for honorable manhood, progressive citizenship and for success in business, and his sterling worth is attested by all who know him.
LEO A. GLUCKLER.
Leo A. Gluckler, district sales manager for the firm of Manning, Maxwell & Moore, Incorporated, of St. Louis, was born September 21, 1886, in Farmingdale, New Jersey. His father, August Gluckler, is a native of Germany but came to America when a youth of fifteen years, arriving in 1860 and settling first in Brooklyn, New York. He spent some time also in New York city and Sag Harbor, Long Island, and during his active life was engaged in the machinery business and also as a chemist. He married Anna Adams, who was born in New York city and is of English descent in the paternal line and of German lineage on the maternal side. Mr. and Mrs. Gluckler are still living.
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