USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 46
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Leo A. Gluckler was the fifth in order of birth in a family of three sons and five daughters, all of whom survive. He was educated in the public schools of Brooklyn, New York, and in Pratt Institute of that city, and while a student there was appointed an instructor in mechanical work and machine tool designing, teach- ing for two seasons. He then had charge of the apprentice school of R. Hoe & Company, printing press builders, and in the latter plant he learned the machinery trade. He studied during the day and taught in the night classes and thus by determined purpose and laudable ambition worked his way steadily upward.
In 1911 Mr. Gluckler became connected with the firm of Manning, Maxwell & Moore, Incorporated, as a salesman in their New York office. He continued with the house there until May, 1912, and was then transferred to the St. Louis office, established since 1890, and in 1914 he was made district manager in St. Louis. This position of trust and responsibility he has continuously filled to the present time, covering a period of seven years. As head master in the R. Hoe & Company Ap- prentice School of Mechanical Trades he succeeded Harvey Watterson, a son of Henry Watterson of Louisville, Kentucky, Harvey Watterson having met with an accidental death. At that time Mr. Gluckler was the youngest instructor in the institute and he is today the youngest district sales manager for the company which he represents and which employs from six to eight thousand people throughout the entire country. The firm engages in the manufacture of machine tools, electric traveling cranes, wharf cranes, locomotive and steam gauges, valves, inspirators and kindred lines, and its business is the largest of its kind in the United States.
On the 28th of June, 1916, Mr. Gluckler was married to Miss Theodosia Bender, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Theodore and Laura Bender. They reside at 4632 Westminster Place. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gluckler were very active in all war work. Mr. Gluckler finds recreation in motoring, fishing and golf. In politics he is a stanch republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the party, and his religious faith is indicated in his attendance at the Third Baptist church.
A. D. WILLECKEN.
A. D. Willecken," who for more than seven years has served as clerk of the circuit court of St. Louis county and who filled the office of police judge at Maple- wood. was born May 7, 1875, in the county where he still makes his home, his parents being August F. and Lena A. (Puckhafer) Willecken. The father, a native of Germany, ran away from home at the age of thirteen years and took ship for the United States. At nineteen years of age he answered President Lincoln's first
LEO A. GLUCKLER
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call for volunteer troops for ninety days. Becoming ill he was in the hospital for several months but subsequently applied for reenlistment to be met with refusal, however, on the grounds of physical disability. Mr. Willecken was for many years engaged in the sheet iron and metal business in St. Louis and passed away in St. Louis county where he had made his home for fifteen years prior to his demise. His wife was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, of German parentage.
Mr. Willecken was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and in the St. Louis Business College. His first salaried position was that of delivery hoy for the Post Dispatch, having a route which he covered after school hours. At the age of fourteen years he left school and went to work for The Famous Shoe & Clothing Company as bundle boy. Six months later he entered the employ of M. A. Wolff & Company, real estate agents, as office boy and continued with them for three years. Later he was employed in the street service of the Water depart- ment of the city and continued in the employ of the city government for three years. He next became weigh master and freight inspector for the Western Rail- way Weighing Association and Inspection Bureau and when three years had passed in that connection he was made chief clerk of the association and so served for seven years. Later he went to the Wabash Railway in connection with the claim department and a year later was appointed contracting freight agent for the Lehigh & Wabash Dispatch. When six months had passed the fast freight lines of the Wabash were consolidated and Mr. Willecken was appointed traveling freight agent for the Wabash and its fast freight line. He remained in that position for a year and was then appointed chief deputy clerk of St. Louis county, at Clayton, filling the posi- tion for four years at the end of which time he was elected justice of the peace. While occupying that position he also served for two terms as police judge of the city of Maplewood. In November, 1913, he was elected circuit clerk of St. Louis county, in which important capacity he has continuously served, discharging his duties with marked capability and fidelity.
On the 19th of January, 1898, Mr. Willecken was married to Miss Cora B. Taake of St. Louis, and to them has been born a daughter, Carma Vivian, who was educated in the Maplewood school and in Washington University.
Politically Judge Willecken is a republican and fraternally he is connected with Maplewood Lodge, No. 566, A. F. & A. M., of which he is a past master. He belongs to St. Louis Lodge, No. 9, B. P. O. E. He is one of the popular officials of St. Louis county, being most widely and favorably known and his long continuation in office is proof of his capability and fidelity.
FRANK COFFMAN.
Frank Coffman, who is engaged in the practice of law as senior partner in the firm of Coffman & Jackson with offices in the Times building in St. Louis, was born in Phelps county, Missouri, January 17, 1885, his parents being James M. and Rosalie (Crews) Coffman. The father was also born in this state, a son of Mathias Coffman, one of the pioneers of Phelps county who came to Missouri from Tennessee. The family was of German origin and was originally established in Pennsylvania when the removal was made to Tennessee and thence to Phelps county. It was there that James M. Coffman was reared and became a successful farmer and stock raiser. He was a Civil war veteran, joining the army during the latter part of hostilities and serving until honorably discharged. In politics he took a deep interest as a stanch supporter of democratic principles and served for two terms in the state legislature in 1901 and again in 1903. He was the author of the appropriation bill for the school of mines and he took a very important part in . constructive legislation, doing much through the exercise of his official prerogatives in support of Missouri's progressive development. He passed away at Rolla, Missouri, March 13, 1916, when seventy-two years of age. His wife, a native of Illinois, was a daughter of George E. Crews who became a resident of St. James, Missouri. Mrs. Coffman passed away January 7, 1918. She was the mother of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom are living.
Frank Coffman, the sixth child and fourth son in the family, was educated in the Coffman country school of Phelps county, in the high school at Rolla, Missouri, from
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which he was graduated in 1903 and in the C. B. C. College at Sedalia, Missouri, in which he completed his course by graduation with the class of 1903. During these years he studied law and after thorough preliminary training was admitted to practice in June, 1909. During his father's service in the state legislature Mr. Coffman acted as the secretary and during the latter part of 1906 and through the year 1907 was engaged in mining in Old Mexico. Through this period, however, he continued his law reading and entered upon active practice in St. Louis in the spring of 1909. He has since devoted his attention to civil law and since October, 1920, has practiced as senior partner in the firm of Coffman and Jackson. His ability is manifest in the large clientele accorded him and in the many verdicts which he has won favorable to his clients' in- terest. He belongs to the St. Louis, the Missouri State and the American Bar Asso- ciations. Aside from his professional connection he is the secretary and treasurer of the Metropolitan Discount Company.
On the 12th of October, 1912, Mr. Coffman was married in St. Louis, to Miss Irene M. Thurber, a native of this city and a daughter of Frank T. and Annie (Wand) Thurber. They have one son, Frank, Jr., born October 10, 1915. During the war Mr. Coffman served on the legal advisory board. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he is an active worker in its ranks but not an aspirant for office. The interests of his profession make full demand upon his time and energy and in the calling where progress depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has made steady advancement.
WALTER L. SHELDON.
Walter L. Sheldon, well known for many years in St. Louis, was a man of the highest ideals, and was a constant student of the sociological and economic condl- tions of the country, with a view to aiding his fellowmen. A native son of New England, he was born in Rutland, Vermont, September 5, 1858, a son of Preston and Cornelia (Hatch) Sheldon. His youthful days were spent in the Green Mountain state, and in the acquirement of his education he completed a high school course in Middlebury, Vermont, and for two years afterward was a student in Middlebury college, subsequent to which time he entered Princeton University, and was numbered among its alumni of 1880. For two years he was a student in the departments of science and philosophy in the Universities of Berlin and Leipsic, Germany, and he spent a year in the department of political and economic science at Columbia University. Throughout his life he read broadly and thought deeply along those lines. His life was, however, directed by the highest ethical principles, and ethical problems and their solution were matters of keenest interest to him. His reading was constantly directed along the lines of investiga- tion which transcend commercialism and the more sordid things of life, and his constantly developing intellectual powers resulted in broadening activities for the benefit and welfare of his fellowmen. For two years after leaving Germany Mr. Sheldon was one of the prominent workers in the Society of Ethical Culture in New York city and in 1886, to further education along that line, he founded the Ethical Society of St. Louis, remaining its leader to the time of his death. He was a firm believer in the innate good in every individual and it was his aim con- stantly to aid in the development of latent powers in his fellowmen, leading to higher, broader and better living. In 1888 he founded the Self-Culture Hall Association, as an educational movement for the wage earners of St. Louis and continued at its head until 1906. His efforts were most practical, effective and resultant in behalf of those whom the struggle for a livelihood forced to confine their attention to industrial or commercial activity, leaving little chance for mental development which requires time and concentration. He hecame a director of the School of Philanthropy of St. Louis and was a charter member of the Contemporary Club, serving as chairman of the committee on speakers during the first years of its existence. The nature of his interests was further indicated in the fact of his membership in the St. Louis Academy of Science, the Western Philosophical Asso- ciation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was chairman of the social science department of the World's Congress of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis in 1904, and was likewise a charter member of the Town and
WALTER L. SHELDON
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Gown Club of St. Louis. While he studied along constantly broadening lines and sought out the psychical force underlying all the different phases of work, his labors in behalf of his fellowmen, embodying in practical method the high ideal which he cherished, made him a forceful factor in the accomplishment of ends desired.
In the field of letters Mr. Sheldon was widely known throughout the country. He was the author of various interesting volumes that claimed the attention of the men and women of master minds throughout the country. His first volume pub- lished in New York in 1896 was entitled, An Ethical Movement. In 1900 he brought out in London another volume called, An Ethical Sunday School, and in the previous year in Chicago he had published, The Story of the Bible from the Standpoint of Modern Scholarship, while in the same city in 1903 and 1904 he brought from the press, A Graded Course of Ethical Instruction for the Young. In 1905 in Phila- delphia he published, a Study of the Divine Comedy of Dante, and the Academy of Science of St. Louis, published his pamphlet, A Birdseye View of the Literature of Ethical Science since the time of Charles Darwin. From his pen came various miscellaneous papers and pamphlets among which is the Evolution of Conscience as a Phase of Sociology, reprinted from the American Journal of Sociology in 1902.
Mr. Sheldon was married in Philadelphia, May 18, 1892, to Miss Anna Hart- shorne, a daughter of Charles Hartshorne of that city. In politics Mr. Sheldon always maintained an independent course. He was too deep a thinker, too logical a reasoner, with too great breadth of vision to be held down to party ties, nor was it possible for him to accept any man-made creed or dogma. He looked at life from the broad standpoint of the experience of the ages, recognized the develop- ment . of civilization and growth of humanitarian principles, and felt that the salvation of the race lies in an education toward the understanding of these things and looking to the possibilities of the future. Toward hastening that end his work largely contributed. His labors were resultant and the seeds of truth which he sowed are yet bearing fruit and will for years to come. His influence is like the ever widening circle of the pebble dropped into the stream, an influence that eternity and not time can measure. He passed from this life June 5, 1907, to "Join the choir invisible,
Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence."
Two years after Mr. Sheldon's death, his widow, generously assisted by mem- bers and friends of the Society, contributed sufficient money to erect the Sheldon Memorial, a building dedicated to the uses and purposes of the Ethical Society of St. Louis. The architect chosen was the late Louis C. Spiering. The building is situated on Washington Avenue near Grand, and was formally dedicated in the Fall of 1911.
DELBERT JAMES HAFF.
Delbert James Haff, attorney at law of Kansas City, was born February 19, 1859, in Oakland county, Michigan, a son of Ethan Clark and Sarah M. (Bush) Haff. The father was born in Rensselaer county, New York, in 1825. He was a direct descendant of Jurian Haff, who was one of the soldiers of Holland who served under the Dutch West India Company in the conquest from the Portuguese of the Province of Brazil in South America which, for a time, was under the Dutch flag. The records of the old Dutch Church of Brooklyn state that the said Jurian, which is Dutch for George Haff, was from Augsburg, which is a city in Swabia, now the southern part of Bavaria in Germany. The Swabians were the German Protestants. Augsburg was the home of Martin Luther. It appears that Jurian Haff's father migrated from Swabia to Holland out of religious sympathy. These records show that Jurian Haff was field trumpeter of the States of the United Netherlands under Captain Claassen and served under Count John Maurice of Nassau-Seigen, governor-general of the Dutch Empire of Brazil at Fort Antonio, at the mouth of the river Parahyba de Norte, which was changed to the name of Fort Marguerite in honor of the sister of Count Maurice. Jurian Haff was honorably discharged from service on June 23, 1649, in Brazil. His wife was Teuntie Straetsman, widow of Jan Meyer, and it seems that she was Jurian's
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second wife. By her he had one son, Lawrence, who was born in 1649. Jurian evidently died shortly afterwards and about 1654 his widow migrated to Brooklyn, New York, then Breucklyn, New Amsterdam, which was a Dutch colony at that time. It seems she had a sister there and that Jurian Haff also had a sister there. Probably while in the service of the Dutch Company he had been there, also. She married again at Brooklyn and died at Gowannus, Long Island, October 19, 1662, leaving her son Lawrence, about thirteen years of age, a ward of the Dutch church. Lawrence was apprenticed to the pastor of that church, Rev. Henricus Selyns, on November 22, 1662. The records of the church give a long list of the personal property that was left by his mother for him. When he became of age he married the daughter of Pieter Jansen Meet. Her name was Knierte Pieters Meet. She was born in Amers- foort, Holland, and emigrated with her father to Brooklyn in 1662 on the ship "Rose Tree." Lawrence Haff lived in New Utrecht, afterwards at Gravesend, Long Island, and at Flatbush, Long Island, where he probably spent his declining years. He had eleven children whose names were Peter, Jurian, Teunis, Styntie, Maria, Johannis, Jacob, Theuntie, Margaret, Sauta and Lawrence.
The ancestral line comes down through Jacob Haff, the seventh son of this family. He was baptised in Brooklyn, September 19, 1689. In 1719 he subscribed to the sup- port of the Dutch Reformed church of Success, Long Island, and in 1732 he subscribed four pounds, eleven shillings towards the erection of the Dutch Reformed church at Oyster Bay, Long Island, where he lived for a number of years until he removed to Dutchess county, New York, on the Hudson river. In 1715 he was a member of the company of Captain Samuel Dickinson, engaged in the wars against the Indians and French. Jacob Haff had the following children: Lawrence, baptised March 9, 1714; Elizabeth, haptised April 1, 1716; Joseph, baptised August 10, 1718; Knierte, baptised October 22, 1720; Jacob, baptised December 30, 1722; Sarah, baptised July 25, 1725; and Marytie, baptised January 5, 1729. He probably took with him his entire family when he moved to Dutchess county, where, in partnership with Isaac German, or Germond, he purchased a large tract of land from the "Great Nine Partners Grant" about seven miles east of Poughkeepsie. The records show a large number of deeds of land made by Jacob Haff and his partner, Isaac German, to various parties, the earliest date heing 1740 and the latest 1760. Jacob Haff seems to have outlived all of his sons except Joseph. Delbert J. Haff of this review found the wills of Lawrence, his eldest son, and Joseph, his next son, and Jacob, Jr. Lawrence, his eldest son, was the ancestor of Mr. Haff of this review. He had the following named children: Ellis, Susannah,
Isaac, Elizabeth and William. He made his father, Jacob, and his brother, Joseph Haff, his executors. His will provided that his property should be sold and the pro- ceeds used to bring up his two youngest children, after which it was to be divided among all of his children and his wife, Hannah. This will of Lawrence Haff was dated January 15, 1753, before John Brinkerhoff, Judge.
The graves of Ellis Haff and his wife, Sarah, whose maiden name was Cham- pion, and of Joshua Haff and his wife, Sarah, whose maiden name was Green, are in the little churchyard of the Baptist church at East Schodack, Rensselaer county, seven miles east of Albany. Sarah Champion was born March 18, 1794, at Lyme, Connecticut, a daughter of Joshua Champion by his second wife, Sarah Griffin, whom he had mar- ried March 17, 1732. Joshua Champion was born in Lyme, Connecticut, September 28, 1684, and was the son of Henry Champion, born in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1654, and Susanna DeWolf, daughter of Balthazar DeWolf, of Lyme, Connecticut. It is he- lieved that Henry Champion was the son of Henry Champion, the settler, who migrated from England and took up his abode at Saybrook about 1647. Sarah Griffin, the wife of Joshua Champion, of Lyme, Connecticut, was the daughter of Jasper and Ruth (Peck) Griffin, of North Lyme, and was born April 30, 1702. Her mother, Ruth Peck, born at Lyme, August 19, 1676, was the daughter of Joseph Peck, horn at New Haven in January, 1641, and who was a son of Deacon William Peck, one of the founders of New Haven, Connecticut. William Peck migrated from London in the ship Hector with Governor Eaton, Rev. John Davenport and others on June 26, 1637. He was born in London in 1601 and was married about 1622. He was one of the original proprietors of New Haven and his signature will be found on the constitution of New Haven, dated June 11, 1639. This was one of the first examples of a written constitution defining the government and its powers. He was a merchant, administrator of the colony, trustee, treasurer of the Collegiate School, and until his death was deacon of the church in New Haven. He died October 4, 1694, aged ninety-three years.
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Balthazar DeWolf, ancestor and settler, was living in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1661. He is first mentioned in court records of Hartford in 1656, and he was undoubtedly of Dutch descent. The original settler, Jasper Griffin, went to Southold, Long Island, in 1675 from Wales. He was born in 1648 and became a major of militia at Southold, Long Island. His wife, Hannah, died in 1699, leaving four sons: Jasper, Robert, John and Edward. The father died in April, 1718. The second Jasper Griffin settled in Lyme, Connecticut, and died when more than ninety years of age. It was he who married Ruth Peck and their daughter was Sarah Griffin.
The eldest son of Joshua Haff and Sarah Champion was Jacob Haff, who was born about 1792 and died November 2, 1862. He was married to Susannah Newton, daughter of Benjamin Newton, of Renssalaer county, New York, the marriage taking place May 18, 1813. Of his family of seven sons the youngest was Ethan Clark Haff, who was born in Rensselaer county, New York, in 1825. He wedded Sarah M. Bush, of Cayuga Lake, New York, who was born at Parma Center, near the city of Rochester, in 1827, a daughter of Joseph and Rachel (DeWitt) Bush. The latter was a daughter of Joseph DeWitt, descendant of Tjerck Classen DeWitt, the founder of the family in the new world, who is first mentioned in the Register of Marriages in the Dutch Reformed church of New York city on the 24th of April, 1656, as having married Barbara Andrissen Van Amsterdam. To the marriage of Ethan Clark and Sarah M. (Bush) Haff there were born three sons and a daughter, of whom Delbert James of this review was the third son. The father passed away in 1865.
The youthful days of Delbert James Haff were spent in Michigan and he completed his education in the State University, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884, the Bachelor of Laws degree in 1886, while in 1909 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him. In the practice of his profession Mr. Haff has displayed much more than ordinary ability and has gained a place among the distinguished rep- resentatives of the Missouri bar. His clientage has constantly increased in volume and importance and the court records bear evidence of his success. While Mr. Haff was engrossed in park work and his ordinary civil practice in Kansas City, he acquired some interests in Mexico and was the legal adviser of certain clients doing business there. He found he could not tell very much about the laws of Mexico without knowing something of the Spanish language, so while fighting his park cases and attending to his private practice he took up the study of the Spanish language and of Mexican law and mastered both. It was not long until he was retained by various companies which had properties in Mexico to advise them with respect to their rights in that republic. Mr. Haft's Mexican legal business has grown to such large proportions that his reputa- tion in that field is international and there is not an American lawyer who knows so much of Mexican law and who has accomplished and can accomplish so much in Mexican courts and the executive departments of the republic as Mr. Haff has and can. His services are constantly being sought by large concerns in London, New York, Chicago and other cities. He has large retainers from railroad companies, mining companies and various other concerns. He is general counsel'for Mexico for the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad Company, and for all the Phelps-Dodge Company's interests. He repre- sents oil companies, railroad companies, mining companies and all sorts of other enterprises doing business in the republic. He fought successfully through all the courts of Mexico to the supreme court of the republic the most famous mining case in the annals of Mexican jurisprudence. This is the case of the Lucky Tiger mine and the business was so exacting and Mr. Haff's loyalty to his clients such that he was unable to leave Mexico for a single day for a period of eight months. Aside from his profession Mr. Haff is financially interested in the Commerce Trust Company of Kansas City, the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad Company, numerous mining companies doing business in Mexico and the United States, notably the Anaconda Copper Company, the Greene Cananea Copper Company, the Lucky Tiger Combination Gold Mining Company, the United Verde Extension Mining Company and also in land and oil companies in Mexico. He is a member of the board of directors of both the Commerce Trust Com- pany of Kansas City and of the Mexico City Banking Corporation of Mexico City.
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