USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 49
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ALLEN ROSWELL SHEFFER.
Allen Roswell Sheffer of the stock brokerage firm of A. R. Sheffer & Company is a native of the state of New York, born in Hopewell, Ontario county, June 9, 1857. His father was a manufacturer of agricultural implements but as the son had no taste for mechanics he continued his education early acquired in the local schools by pursuing a course in the Michigan University, from which he was graduated in 1880 and through vacation periods devoted his time to reading law in Michigan, being admitted to the bar of that state. He afterward returned to Rochester, New York, and devoted a year to further law study in the Empire state and following his admission to practice in the courts of New York he entered at once upon the active work of the profession.
While engaged in building up a clientage he was also active in local politics as a young lawyer and served as secretary of the Lincoln Club and president of the Protective Tariff League. For three years he pursued his profession and then became interested in the stock and bond business, which grew to large proportions under his management and he became a wealthy man. Moreover, he was active in all local matters there, was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the lead- ing organizations and clubs of his city. He was also the head of the Metropolitan Storage Company and a large property owner of Rochester. He found time, how- ever, to travel and made several trips abroad, also to the Bermudas and to the Pacific coast where he owned an orange grove. He was at all times a close student of affairs, political and business, not only of this country but of Europe as well.
During the widespread financial panic of 1892 and 1893 Mr. Sheffer went down with thousands of others in that crash and came out with forty-six judgments against him and no property or assets except a loyal wife and four small children. Going to New York he secured a position in a Wall street bond house. He was there only a few months when he saw an opportunity to make some money in government bonds that were offered by the Cleveland administration for public subscription. He put in a bid for one hundred thousand of these bonds which cost him a two- cent postage stamp to mail his bid to Washington. Out of the seven hundred bids on this bond issue Mr. Sheffer's was the best of all, his bid having more profit in it than any of the rest. He sold his bid within forty-eight hours and with the money that he made founded the present house of A. R. Sheffer & Company at 63 Wall street in 1896. He specialized in railroad bonds, which in those days were prin- cipally street railway bonds, and financed and helped construct many electric lines, so that at the end of five years he found himself in possession of about two hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars that he had made in this way.
Mr. Sheffer never went into bankruptcy and never made an assignment, al- though judgments were standing against him and he thought it was time they should be paid. He went to Rochester and discharged his financial obligations as represented by the forty-six judgments, amounting to fifty thousand dollars. Forty-four of these judgments were for other people's obligations, only two being debts that he had himself contracted.
By reason of illuess in his family Mr. Sheffer was compelled to leave the east and seek a milder climate for a daughter then in delicate health. He went to San Antonio, Texas, and shortly became interested in a trust company at Houston, of
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which he became secretary. His daughter's health having greatly improved and Mr. Sheffer longing to get back toward home he made his way northward to St. Louis where he remained for a few years and then opened a brokerage office in Detroit, there building up a large business very rapidly. He opened branch offices in New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis. When the United States declared war his business became very much impaired and he closed his offices, returning to St. Louis as one of his daughters had married a St. Louis man and the family desired to be near her. Mr. Sheffer then opened his present office on the ground floor of the Holland building where he expects to remain and be per- manently identified with the financial life of St. Louis.
In 1882, in Rochester, New York, Mr. Sheffer was married to Miss Georgia Banta, who was born and reared in that city where her father was engaged in the shoe business for forty years. Mr. Sheffer has one son who took his A. B. degree at Yale and is now practicing law in Rochester in the building where his father prac- ticed forty years ago. Mr. Sheffer has three daughters living, one of whom is mar- ried in St. Louis and the other two are at home. One of his daughters is social secretary for the Red Cross at Webster Groves and the other is an artist. Both are living at the home which Mr. Sheffer recently purchased on Enright avenue. The only grandchildren Mr. Sheffer has are St. Louisans, his daughter having one boy and two girls. This is an added tie to Mr. Sheffer's home life in St. Louis.
With various interests Mr. Sheffer has become closely identified. He is a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis and a few months ago when the Union Stock Exchange was organized he was unanimously elected president. He is a young man for his years and his energy has never been impaired. It can truly be said that he is a self-made man, for the father died when the son was but four- teen years of age and he has practically cared for himself since the age of sixteen. He specializes in new issues of stocks and bonds, a course he has followed through- out nearly all his life. His great success in Wall street was due to the fact that he handled new issues of bonds which the ordinary bond house will not handle because they are not seasoned securities. It takes ability to select securities of this sort and a great deal of energy and push to place them.
Mr. Sheffer has been a very stanch Presbyterian and his father was an elder and superintendent of the Sunday school of the Presbyterian church for many years. Recently, however, Mr. Sheffer has been interested in Christian Science and while not a member of that church is a student of their faith.
ROBERT LEE HOFFMANN, M. D.
Dr. Robert Lee Hoffmann, who since the close of his service in the World war has been engaged in practice in Kansas City, specializing in urology, was born in Ellsworth, Kansas, June 20, 1889, a son of Gustave Robert Lee Hoffmann, a native of Edwardsville, Illinois, who served as a doctor's apprentice but became inter- ested in drugs and then took up the study of pharmacy. He became a druggist at the age of eighteen years and for thirty years was owner of a drug store in Ellsworth, Kansas. From 1908 until the time of his death in 1916 he was em- ployed as an inspector for the Kansas state board of pharmacy. His wife, Mrs. Helen Dorothea Hoffmann, is living in Ellsworth, Kansas.
Dr. Robert L. Hoffmann completed a high school course at Ellsworth, Kansas, with the class of 1908 and afterward attended the Kansas State University at Law- rence, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912, the Master of Arts degree in 1913 and his professional degree in 1915. During the year 1913 he was a fellow in the department of anatomy and during his college days he became a member of the Phi Beta Pi, a medical fraternity, and of the Pi Upsilon, a social fraternity. In 1915-16 he was an interne in St. Francis Hospital at Wichita, Kansas, and through the succeeding year was resident physician at the New York City Hospital of the Department of Public Charities in New York city. He was called into service on the 29th of May, 1917, being the first man to leave that institution for the World war. He was trained at the First Medical Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, and was transferred to the Twenty-ninth Ambu- lance Company, Fifth Division of Regulars, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and later
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moved with them to Camp Logan, Houston, Texas. His next transferral took him to the Base Hospital at Camp Logan, Texas, and he was assigned to the depart- ment of urology, receiving a promotion to a captaincy in August, 1918. With that rank he was discharged from the service March 12, 1919, and now has the rank of captain in the Reserve Corps.
At Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 24th of June, 1917, Dr. Hoffmann was married to Miss Mabel Inez Scott, a daughter of William Scott, and they have become parents of an interesting little son, Robert Lee, Jr. Dr. Hoffmann belongs to the Presbyterian church and he is a thirty-second degree Mason, having become a member of the Galveston (Texas) Consistory. He likewise became a member of Arabia Shrine at Houston, Texas, and in addition to his college fraternity connec- tions he is a member of the Optimist Club of Kansas City, which is a national organ- ization. He belongs to the Jackson County and Missouri State Medical Societies and one who knows him well says of him: "He is one of the best urologists in Kansas City and a man who will become one of the leading specialists in his branch of practice." His ability is constantly broadening as the result of his widening experience and comprehensive study, for at all times he keeps in touch with the latest researches and scientific discoveries of the profession.
RUDOLPH FELSCH.
Rudolph Felsch is the assistant cashier of the Boatmens Bank of St. Louis, the oldest banking institution in the state and one of the oldest west of the Mississippi river. He was but fifteen years of age when he entered the employ of this bank. His birth occurred in Chicago, Illinois, October 19, 1875, his parents being Theodore and Marie F. (Kaiser) Felsch, both of whom were natives of Stuttgart, Würtemberg, Germany, where they were reared. Immediately after their marriage they came to the United States, settling in Chicago. This was about 1870 and a year later they lost everything they had in the great Chicago fire of October, 1871. Soon thereafter they removed to St. Louis and Mr. Felsch, who was a journalist, became a member of the staff of the Anzeiger des Westens. Later he was connected with the Amerika as city editor, serving in that capac- ity to the time of his death in 1887. His widow is still living and makes her home with her son Theodore W. Felsch in St. Louis.
Rudolph was educated in the Toensfeldt Educational Institute, then at Ninth and Chouteau avenue but through unavoidable circumstances was compelled to leave school at the early age of twelve years and go to work. He secured a position as office boy in the general auditor's office of the Missouri Pacific Railway. A little later he made application for a position in the Boatmens Bank and entered the employ of that institu- tion on the 1st of December, 1890. He has therefore been identified with the bank for more than three decades as his connection therewith has been continuous. His original position was that of messenger boy from which he passed upward through every inter- mediate position in the bank to his present connection as assistant cashier. He was appointed to this office on the 11th of January, 1919, in recognition of his faithfulness and worth through all the intervening years.
In August, 1910, Mr. Felsch was married to Miss Margaret T. McCarron of St. Louis, a daughter of Dennis McCarron who for many years was well known in the river service as steamboat engineer in the employ of the government. Mrs. Felsch is a member of the Catholic church. Politically Mr. Felsch is a republican but has had neither time nor inclination to seek office. He and his wife reside at No. 3403 Hartford street in St. Louis and have an extensive circle of warm friends in the city.
GROVER C. SPARKS.
Grover C. Sparks, one of the best known of the younger lawyers of Savannah and legal adviser to several banking institutions for some years, was born in Andrews county, November 27, 1885, a son of William M. and Sarah A. (Bohart) Sparks. His father was a native of Kentucky but his mother was born in Andrews county, this state. William M. Sparks came to Andrews county with his parents when a child and here grew to man-
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hood and was married. He was engaged in farming during his active life and died in Andrews county in 1890, when his son Grover C. was a child of five years. The mother is still living and some time after the death of William M. Sparks she became the wife of J. N. Dickson.
Grover C. Sparks was educated in the district schools of Andrews county and at Hiawatha Academy, Hiawatha, Kansas, from which institution he was graduated in 1907. Following his graduation he taught school for two years, after which he entered the office of P. C. Breit, attorney of Savannah, and began the reading of Blackstone and other legal authorities. In the fall of 1909 he entered the law department of the Missouri State University, from which he received his law degree in 1911. Mr. Sparks was admitted to the Missouri state bar in May prior to his graduation, following which he began the practice of his profession in Savannah, and in the intervening period has built up an extensive and lucrative practice, standing among his legal brethren as an honorable and skillful lawyer. For a period of two years Mr. Sparks filled, by election, the office of prosecuting attorney of Andrews county, rendering satisfaction in that important posi- tion to the varied interests concerned. He acts as attorney to the First National Bank of Savannah and the Farmers Bank of Nodaway, and is legal adviser to the Farmers Bank of Fillmore, Missouri. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers Bank of Nodaway and is a member of its board of directors, bringing to the duties of that position a sound judgment which places the interests of the bank before any other consideration.
On December 20, 1913, Mr. Sparks was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Danforth, of Warrensburg, Missouri, and to this union one child, Wilbur Danforth Sparks, was born October 4, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks are earnest members of the First Baptist church of Savannah and are active in all church work, Mr. Sparks being superintendent of the Sunday school for the past four years. He is a supporter of the democratic party and has numerous fraternal affiliations. He is a member and past master of Savannah Lodge No. 71, A. F. & A. M .; member of Savannah Chapter, No. 73, R. A. M., of which he is high priest; member of Hugh DePaynes Commandery, No. 4, K. T., of St. Joseph; member of St. Joseph Council No. 9, and member of Savannah Chapter No. 23, O. E. S., of which he is past patron. Mrs. Sparks is a member of the same chapter of the Eastern Star and is past matron. Mr. Sparks is also a member of the Savannah Lodge, No. 14, I. O. O. F., and in the affairs of all these organizations he takes a warm and practical interest, like- wise showing a keen appreciation of all public projects designed to serve the community at large.
JAMES L. HARDIE.
James L. Hardie, vice president and treasurer of the Hornbeck & Hardie Electric Company of St. Louis, was born November 12, 1873, in the province of Ulster, Ireland, a son of the late Joseph Hardie, who was also a native of Ulster, where he successfully engaged in business as a hardware dealer of Armagh. At the time of his death he was living in Stewartstown, where he was retired. He was a devout Christian, holding membership in the Episcopal church and for a number of years prior to his demise, which occurred when he had reached the age of sixty-nine years, he filled the office of vestryman in the church. In young manhood he married Margaret Burrows, also a native of Ulster, and now deceased. Their family num- bered eight children, four sons and four daughters.
James L. Hardie, who was the seventh in order of birth, acquired his educa- tion in the public schools of Ulster and in the Cookstown Academy, from which he was graduated in 1890. He afterward entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the hardware trade which he followed until 1897 when he crossed the Atlantic and made his way direct to St. Louis, arriving on the 10th of April, 1897, in New York city and at once proceeded to his destination. Here he became connected with the mechanical and electrical department of the Union Depot Railway System, and remalned with that corporation until 1899 when the St. Louis street car lines were consolidated, and he continued in the same capacity with the United Railway Company. He was thus employed until 1901 and afterward became connected with the Century Electric Company, with which he remained as salesman until 1906. He later entered the employ of the Commercial Electric Company as a department manager, continuing with the latter firm until 1920. In that year he became
Sidwhiting
JAMES L. HARDIE
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one of the organizers of the Hornbeck & Hardie Electric Company, specializing in motors and motor installations, in the maintenance of motors and factory wiring and the repair of motors and generators of any make and size. Already the business is reaching profitable proportions and the success of the undertaking is attributable in no small measures to the mechanical skill, ingenuity and business enterprise of Mr. Hardie.
On the 22d of December, 1898, in St. Louis, Mr. Hardie was married to Miss Anna N. Murphy, a native of county Antrim, Ireland, and a daughter of John and Jane (Chestnut) Murphy, her mother being a representative of a very old and promi- nent Irish family among whom were many distinguished physicians and ministers. To Mr. and Mrs. Hardie have been born three children: James B., now the manager of the Surety Manufacturing Company of St. Louis; Genie Margaret, now a student at the Teachers College and preparing as a supervisor of music in the public schools; and Ruth Anna, now in the grade schools, all born in St. Louis. Politically Mr. Hardie is a republican, and fraternally is connected with Good Hope Lodge, No. 218, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past master; St. Louis Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M .; and St. Louis Commandery, No. 8, K. T. He also belongs to the Optimist Club, and his religious faith is manifest in his membership in the Carondelet Pres- byterian church, in which he is serving as chairman of the board of trustees. He is also a member of the board of the Metropolitan Boys Work Commission and is chairman of the Carondelet Community Y. M. C. A. He takes a most active interest in community service and does everything in his power to uphold high standards of manhood and citizenship. During the war he aided greatly in promoting all the war movements and drives, in fact sustaining all the home activities to the extent of his time and ability. He was a member of the American Protective League and he is now serving on the executive committee of the Carondelet Business Men's Association. He came to America a poor boy and his success is due to his own efforts and perseverance. Prompted by a laudable ambition he has steadily worked his way upward, utilizing every available opportunity, and is now at the head of a prosperous and growing business.
GEORGE W. HOYLAND.
George W. Hoyland, who has extensive connections with the flour milling interests of Kansas City and of the southwest, was born in Winfield, Kansas, January 25, 1879, his parents being Joseph E. and Margaret A. Shaughnessy Hoyland, both of whom were natives of Wisconsin. The father was a farmer by occupation and was largely instru- mental in introducing alfalfa into the district in which he lived, proving the value and worth of the crop. He was also prominently known as a breeder of blooded stock, par- ticularly fine hogs, and he ranked as one of the most practical, progressive and scientific farmers of his state. He was keenly interested in the public welfare and served for some time as a member of the school board, the cause of education finding in him a stal- wart champion. His father was a veteran of the Civil war, serving with a Wisconsin regiment.
George W. Hoyland completed a high school education in Burden, Kansas, and then started out in the business world, being first employed as delivery boy in a department store at a salary of three dollars per week. He worked in that establishment for two and a half years and gained valuable experience through various promotions. He after- ward conducted a general store of his own at Cambridge, Kansas, which he sold at the end of a seven year period of very successful business. He then became associated with the New Era Milling Company of Arkansas City, Kansas, as a salesman and later acquired an interest in the business which he still holds, being actively connected with the affairs of the company at the present time. By reason of his knowledge of the milling business and milling conditions, he was, in September, 1917, made general manager of the south- western milling division of the food administration and gave his entire time to this work for more than a year.
When it was no longer necessary to concentrate his efforts and attention on govern- ment work, Mr. Hoyland organized the George W. Hoyland Flour Company and later the George W. Hoyland Flour Mills Company, of which he has been president from the be- ginning. These companies are interested in seven mills in Kansas and Missouri, also
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elevators in connection with each, and in addition they have other elevators. They are now very extensively engaged in the export trade, and their output is from six to nine hundred thousand barrels annually. The business is capitalized for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and has become one of the important industries of this character in the southwest. To meet Mr. Hoyland one realizes that he is an exceptional man, especially qualified as a manager of large affairs. He possesses notable foresight, splen- did powers of organization and keen discrimination as to that which is essential and valuable in a conduct of business interests.
In Chicago in 1914 Mr. Hoyland was married to Mrs. Bessie (Dazell) Jarred, a daughter of S. M. Dazell, who is prominently known in connection with the coal trade as general manager of the Springvalley Coal Company, Springvalley, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Hoyland have two daughters: Mary Jane and Barbara Ann.
Mr. Hoyland has membership in the Kansas City Club and the Hill Crest Club. He enjoys a game of golf and is frequently seen on the links, but finds his greatest pleasure and recreation in motoring when business permits of leisure. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to the lodge, chapter, Knights Templar commandery, the Scottish Rite bodies and the Mystic Shrine. His political endorsement is given to the republican party, but notwithstanding his political affiliation he was appointed to a most important position under a democratic administration when he became general manager of the southwestern milling division. It was an appointment made in recognition of his superior ability and his patriotic devotion to his country. He is essentially a business man, alert and ener- getic, and his well defined plans have been carried steadily forward to successful com- pletion along lines that will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
LEOPOLD ACKERMAN.
St. Louis has won the well merited distinction of being one of the greatest millinery centers on the American continent and it is in this line of trade that Leopold Ackerman has become well known being president of the Sonnenfeld Millinery Company. He was born at Villmar, Germany, March 8, 1863, and is a son of the late Wolf Ackerman, also a native of Germany. The father spent his entire life in that country and devoted his attention to farming, passing away at the age of seventy-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Gretchen Levi, was also born in Germany and was called to her final rest at the age of sixty-eight. The family numbered three children, the eldest being Isaac Ackerman, a resident of Villmar, Germany; Johanna, the wife of Herman Rosen- thal, also of Villmar; and Leopold.
Leopold Ackerman obtained his education in the schools of his native town and his early life to the age of fourteen years was spent upon the home farm. He then became a resident of Mayenze, Germany, where he became connected with the dry goods trade as an apprentice to one of the leading firms of that city. When sixteen years of age he left his native country to become a resident of America and made his way direct to St. Louis where he secured a position with the I. B. Rosenthal Millinery Company, which later became the Rosenthal Sloan Millinery Company. In this connection he acquainted himself with all branches and phases of the millinery business continuing with the house until 1894 and gradually working his way upward until he became vice president of the company. In the year indicated he purchased the business of which he is now the head and which at that time was conducted under the name of the Sonnenfeld Millinery Company. The business was originally established in Novem- ber, 1880, and under the presidency of Mr. Ackerman the trade has been developed until it is today one of vast proportions, the house being the largest handling ladies ready-to-wear garments and millinery in St. Louis. Something of the magnitude of the business is indicated in the fact that the firm employs three hundred people and occupies a building containing forty-five hundred square feet of floor space. Mr. Acker- man has in marked degree that quality which for want of a better term has been `called commercial sense. He displays sound judgment, keen sagacity in commercial affairs and readily discriminates between the essential and non-essential in all business projects. He has become thoroughly familiar with the millinery trade and with the other lines which he carries and judicious purchases and quick sales have made the enterprise one of the most profitable mercantile concerns of the city. He is also inter-
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