USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 58
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In 1911 Mr. Schlueter was married to Miss Agnes C. Lang, of St. Louis, and to them has been born one child, a daughter, Violet Marie. Mr. Schlueter and his wife attend the Lutheran church and he gives his political support to the republican party.
A most important chapter in his life record is that concerning his experience in the World war, for he is a veteran of that mighty conflict. He enlisted on the 25th of July, 1918, in the Three Hundred and Fourth Battalion, Heavy Tanks, and early in August sailed with the battalion for Europe, landing at Liverpool, England. From that point the command went to France and Mr. Schlueter served for one year in France, being made gunner's sergeant. He had the honor while there of acting as guard at different times to General Pershing, General Haig, General Joffre and many other of the notable military commanders who were prominent in making victorious the allied cause. On the 1st of July, 1919, he returned to the United States and was mustered out of the service on the 26th of the same month at Camp Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky. It is characteristic of Mr. Schlueter that he is loyal to every cause which he espouses and the same thoroughness and fidelity mark his course in relation to business.
OTTO A. HAMPE.
Otto A. Hampe is engaged in the general insurance business, conducting an agency which was established by his father in 1880. He was born in St. Louis, October 12, 1877, and is a son of France Hampe, a native of Germany who came to the new world and settled in St. Louis in 1859, where he resided to the time of his death which oc- curred August 3, 1896, when he was sixty-four years of age. For many years he was successfully engaged in the insurance business. At the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for troops and for four years and six months was con- nected with the army. He married Mina Scherfenberg, a native of Germany who also came to St. Louis in 1859. They became the parents of thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters, of whom Otto A. was the eleventh in order of birth. The mother departed this life January 19, 1915, when seventy-six years of age, and eight of the children have also been called to the home beyond.
Otto A. Hampe was educated in the public schools of St. Louis to the age of four- teen years when he started out to earn his own livelihood, being first employed as a clerk by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He continued in the railroad service until six- teen years of age and then entered the employ of the Schwerdtmann Toy & Notion Com- pany in a clerical capacity, continuing with that firm for two years. When eighteen
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years of age he joined his father in business and was associated with him to the time of his death. He has since been successfully conducting the business which his father established in 1880. He has a large and prosperous insurance agency, his clientage being now extensive.
On the 14th of August, 1909, Mr. Hampe was married to Miss Augusta Frank at Alton, Illinois, a native of St. Louis and a daughter of the late Lorenz Frank. Mr. Hampe belongs to Westgate Lodge, No. 445, A. F. & A. M., and has also attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite in Missouri Consistory, No. 1. He also has an hon- orary degree in the latter, known as the Knight Commander of the Court of Honor and he is a member of Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Alhambra Grotto, No. 47. He is an honorary member of the St. Louis Gymnastic Society, having been elected such by reason of his connection with the organization for a quarter of a century. Mr. Hampe is likewise a member of the Century Boat Club, is an active oarsman and stroked the first barge to victory in 1902. In politics he is a stalwart republican, is active in the party and has been a member of the board of aldermen since its inception in 1915, the board having been created under the new charter. He served for four years and was reelected in 1919 to a second four-year term. In 1920 he became a candidate for the office of public administrator on the republican ticket, being nominated by a majority of seven thousand and was elected to the office on the 2d of November, 1920, by a very large plurality. During the World war he took an active part in promoting all Liberty loan, Red Cross and other war drives. All matters of public concern are of deep interest to him and his cooperation can at all times be sought to further measures and plans for the public good.
AUGUST W. THIAS.
August W. Thias, vice president of the National Bank of Commerce of St. Louis, was born November 20, 1869, in the city which is still his place of residence. His father, August W. Thias, Sr., was a native of Hanover, Germany, who came to America in 1854 when a youth of fifteen years. He crossed the Atlantic alone, being much interested in this country by reason of the favorable reports which he had heard con- cerning its opportunities and advantages. Making his way direct to St. Louis he here resided until his death, which occurred in 1888 when he was forty-nine years of age. He was engaged in contracting for many years, save through a period of three years when he served in the Civil war, enlisting at St. Louis and being on active duty largely in Missouri and the southwest. He married Caroline Wendt, a native of Germany who came to the United States when a maiden of sixteen summers, and they were married in St. Louis. They had a family of two sons and seven daughters of whom August W. was the fifth in order of birth. Eight of the number, a son and seven daughters, are yet living. The mother passed away in 1910 at the age of seventy-six years.
August W. Thias, Jr., was educated in the parochial schools, in the Lutheran high school and in the Bryant & Stratton Business College of this city. When he was sixteen he started out to provide for his own support and was first employed at the American Powder Mills as assistant bookkeeper. He later secured a clerical position with Nelson & Noel, investment bankers, and though he started as a messen- ger he was advanced to stock and bond salesman and confidential man. He continued with the firm for eight years and in 1893 entered the employ of the St. Louis National Bank as bookkeeper, occupying that position until December, 1898, when the National Bank of Commerce absorbed the St. Louis National Bank. Mr. Thias continued with the newly organized institution until 1905 and at that time was manager of the book- keeping department, where he had inaugurated the present credit department, this being among the first departments of its kind in banking circles west of the Mississippi river. In 1916 he was elected assistant cashier, filling the office until July, 1919, when he was advanced to the position of vice president, having had charge of credits for the past fifteen years and still continuing his supervision over such. He has displayed initiative and enterprise in the organization and development of his department and has contributed in no small measure to the growth and progress of the bank.
On the 27th of April, 1892, Mr. Thias was married in St. Louis to Miss Christine Koerber, a native of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a daughter of August and Caroline Vol. V-34
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(Haupt) Koerber, the former now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Thias have three children: Edna A., who was born in St. Louis, February 27, 1893, and is the wife of G. E. Brown of St. Paul, Minnesota; Percy A., who was born in St. Louis, July 19, 1896; and Florence M., born January 6, 1900.
During the World war Mr. Thias was very active in support of many projects and movements to uphold the interests of the government. He was chairman of the Liberty loan committee for the Zion Evangelical Lutheran church, selling over one hundred thousand dollars in bonds among its members. In politics he is a republican and belongs to the Missouri Athletic Association. He started out in life on his own re- sources when a lad in his teens and his advancement has been the direct outcome of his efforts and perseverance. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished for he now occupies an enviable position among the financiers of his native city.
JOSEPH KANE.
Joseph Kane, member of the St. Louis bar, was born at Pittsfield, Illinois, August 29, 1875, a son of Timothy Kane and a grandson of Cornelius Kane, who came from Ireland, landing at New Orleans in 1848. He left his native country during the memorable famine period there. He was obliged to leave his family behind him in order to make preparations for a home for them in the new world, and when he reached the Crescent City he was the possessor of just one penny. He had a stout heart and unfaltering courage, however, and he bravely faced the situa- tion. He was a highly educated man and was familiar with surveying. At length he gained a start and was able to send for his family. His son, Timothy Kane, was born in Tralee, Kerry county, Ireland, and reached the United States on the 4th of July, 1855, landing at New York, where he remained for a short time. He after- ward spent a year or two in Cincinnati and established his home in Illinois about 1860. For many years he followed farming in the vicinity of Pittsfield and is now residing in that city at the advanced age of eighty-one years, having retired from active life. He married Ellen McElroy, who was born in Pike county, Illinois, and also represented a family of Irish descent who settled in Illinois in pioneer times and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres before the admission of the state into the Union.
Joseph Kane obtained his early education in the public schools of Pittsfield, attending at intervals until nineteen years of age. When a lad of thirteen, how- ever, he took the job of starting the schoolhouse fires, thus earning money with which to pay for his schoolbooks. He had to walk half a mile through all kinds of weather to the schoolhouse, where he earned the princely sum of five cents each morning! The will and spirit of the youth were thus manifest and the elemental strength of his character which he thus displayed has brought to him success as the years have passed on. From early youth he was ambitious to become a school teacher and he seriously pondered the statement in McGuffey's Reader that "where there's a will, there's a way." Earnest study and determination at length brought him the coveted teacher's certificate when he was nineteen years of age and for four years he taught in the school in which he had previously been a pupil, his work as an instructor continuing through the winter months, while in the summer seasons he pursued his own education as a student in the Western Illinois Normal College at Bushnell, Illinois. When twenty-two years of age he went to Quincy, Illinois, and by working night and day completed the business and accounting courses in the Gem City Business College in three months. There were never any idle periods through- out his entire youth and his labors included farm work at a wage of twelve dollars per month.
In 1899 Mr. Kane came to St. Louis and for a year was employed by the John L. Boland Book & Stationery Company. He was afterward bookkeeper with the Hargardine-McKittrick Company and all this time was devoting his leisure hours to the study of law. For a brief period he attended the Benton College of Law, but it was largely through individual study that he qualified for the bar examination, which he passed in 1906. This practically terminated the difficulties of his career. While working as bookkeeper in St. Louis he had passed the examination for a let- ter carrier and in due time was called to duty in that connection and donned the
JOSEPH KANE
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postal uniform, but it took him just one day to discover that he was not intended for that job and he directed his efforts into other channels which brought him ulti- mately to the bar. In 1907 he became junior partner in the firm of Fagin & Kane and he is now senior partner in the law firm of Fagin, Kane & Schreiber, which has been in existence for thirty years. His practice is general and his offices are located in the Oriel building of St. Louis, where he has long been accorded an extensive client- age of an important character.
In 1902 Mr. Kane was married to Miss Dora McKenna, of Pittsfield, Illinois, whose family came from Ireland, settling in Rhode Island in 1840 and removing thence to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Kane had been fellow teachers in Pittsfield and their companionship was ever most close, so that the death of his wife, which occurred May 21, 1911, was an almost unbearable blow. They were the parents of four chil- dren: Francis L., who is now a student in Chaminade College; Dorothy, who is attending St. Elizabeth's convent school; Joseph, Jr., and Jerome, who are pupils in the public schools.
In politics Mr. Kane is a democrat and was nominated as alderman of the twen- tieth ward, being the sole representative of his party to carry his ward at the time. In religion he is a Catholic, being a communicant of the Cathedral parish. He be- longs to De Andries Council of the Knights of Columbus, of which he was grand knight for two years, and he has been district deputy and state deputy, the highest' office in the organization in the state. While grand knight he doubled the member- ship of his council. While he was state deputy America entered the World war and to Mr. Kane fell the task of directing the war work of the fraternity. He raised one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in one week and built at Jefferson Barracks the first Knights of Columbus building in the United States for the use of the troops. This he did before the organization had entered the war work and his effort was undoubtedly the pioneer movement in that work, which was so successfully prose- cuted in this country and in France. Mr. Kane was most active in promoting all the war loan and Red Cross drives, speaking in their support throughout the state. He signed twenty-three hundred members of the Knights of Columbus for the Red Cross in a drive of one week. He was also advisory member of the draft board of the twenty-third ward and gave nearly all of his time to the service of his country.
Mr. Kane was also the originator of the movement to erect a home for the Catholic boys at the State University. The land was purchased and the building started under his supervision. It has been completed but a few months and now stands as a monument to the efforts and public spirit of Mr. Kane.
Fraternally Mr. Kane is also an Elk, belonging to St. Louis Lodge, No. 9, a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and of the Royal Arcanum. He like- wise belongs to the St. Louis and Missouri State Bar Associations and he is a pro- fessor of bankruptcy in the St. Louis University Law School. He is most widely and favorably known in both legal and fraternal circles. He is regarded as one of the finest orators, being a forcible and convincing speaker with a ready command of language, and his services are constantly called for at both political and fraternal gatherings. As a lawyer he holds to the highest ethical standards and as a friend he is as stanch as an oak. Starting out in the world by earning five cents a morn- ing for kindling the fire in a little country schoolhouse, he stands today among the leading and influential residents of St. Louis, having worthily won an honored name and the high regard of all who know him.
JOHN DELL.
John Dell, president of the Missouri Fire Brick Company, one of the extensive and important productive industries of St. Louis, was born in Covington, Kentucky, but since the age of fifteen years has been a resident of St. Louis to which city he came with an elder brother. In 1864 he was employed by the firm of Moody, Michel & Com- pany, wholesale grocers, occupying the position of assistant bookkeeper. He con- tinued a resident of St. Louis until 1870 and then removed to Augusta, Georgia, but after three years spent in that state returned to St. Louis in 1873 on account of ill health. Throughout the intervening period he has been identified with the manufac- ture and sale of brick. He initiated his business career of this character by becoming
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bookkeeper with the Evans & Howard Fire Brick Company which he also represented as traveling salesman, his connection with that corporation extending from 1874 until 1880. He then went upon the road as traveling representative of the Laclede Fire Brick Company with which he remained for two decades, or until 1900. In June of the latter year he was elected president and general manager of the Missouri Fire Brick Company and has so continued to the present time. For forty-six consecutive years he has been associated with the fire brick business and his efforts have been a potent ele- ment in the development of the industry in St. Louis. He has acquainted himself with every phase of the trade and is now concentrating his attention upon constructive effort, administrative direction and executive control in connection with one of the most impor- tant concerns of the kind in the state. His enterprise has led to continuous develop- ment in connection with the business and his well formulated plans have ever been carried forward to successful completion. In all business affairs he has readily dis- criminated between the essential and the non-essential and has displayed marked ability in combining and coordinating unrelated and ofttimes seemingly diverse elements into a unified and harmonious whole.
On the 21st of December, 1892, Mr. Dell was married to Miss Mary Wash, the youngest daughter of Captain Martin W. and Margaret Jane (Humphreys) Wash, of St. Louis county. The children of this marriage are John Morrison, Dorothy, Ger- trude, Virginia and Humphrey Wash.
Fraternally Mr. Dell is a Mason, belonging to Occidental Lodge, No. 163, A. F. & A. M. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he is a member of the Missouri Athletic Club, also of the Missouri Manufacturers Association and the American Gas Institute of New York. He has long been the associate of those men who are most prominent and active in the business development of the city, for through a long period his own position has been one of leadership.
JOHN I. MARTIN.
Actuated by a laudable ambition that has prompted the development of his innate powers and talents and the utilization of every opportunity that has come to him, John I. Martin is today recognized as one of the distinguished lawyers of the St. Louis har and one to whom has come honor and position in connection with public affairs. Step by step he has advanced along the line of broadening oppor- tunities and greater usefulness, and St. Louis has long been proud to number him among her citizens. He was born in St. Louis, May 24, 1848, his parents being William and Frances (Irwin) Martin. At the age of six he entered school, continuing his studies to the age of fourteen, and since that time his lessons have been learned in the more difficult school of experience. He started out to earn his living at that time hy driving a team for his father, who was engaged in the draying business, but unlike many boys he did not devote his leisure merely to playing and recreation. On the contrary he employed much of his time outside of business hours to study, enrolling as a pupil in a commercial college and embracing every opportunity that would promote his knowledge and develop his powers. Throughout his entire life he has been an interested and attentive observer of men and affairs and from his observations has drawn logical and philosophical conclusions.
Mr. Martin made his second step in the business world as shipping clerk and salesman for a large grain and commission house and on leaving that position began merchandising on his own account, his business course being marked by steady progress, while at the same time he attained prominence as a man of affairs in connection with political interests. In fact from hoyhood days he has been deeply interested in the political situation of the country and in the vital questions before the public, and when hut twenty-three years of age he was elected to represent his district in the Missouri assembly. Two years later, or in 1873, he received public endorsement of his term in a reelection and was again chosen to the office in 1875, in which year he was elected speaker pro tem of the house acting as pre- siding officer of the twentieth general assembly. In that position he displayed such ability and impartiality that at the close of the session the house tendered him an unanimous vote of thanks and presented him with a handsome solid gold
JOHN I. MARTIN
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Howard watch and chain and a gavel in token of the uniform favor and regard which he had won.
In the meantime Mr. Martin had taken up the study of law, for which natural oratorical ability and a mind inductive and logical in its trend of thought well qualified him. He pursued his reading under the direction of Colonel R. S. Mc- Donald, a prominent attorney of the Missouri bar, and in 1876 was admitted to practice in the circuit court of St. Louis, while his admission to the United States supreme court came in 1879 upon motion of Hon. Montgomery Blair. His gift of eloquence, supplementing strong mentality, has gained him distinction as a jury lawyer, and the court records show that no man in the past quarter of a century has been connected with more cases of note than he. He prepares his cases with the utmost precision and care and never neglects to give due prominence to any point, while at the same time he keeps ever before court and jury the important point upon which the decision of every case finally turns. Mr. Martin has also on occasions occupied the bench in the court of criminal correction as a provisional judge, and his prompt rulings and decisions give evidence of superior ability. Few representatives of the bar have become so uniformly recognized as the cham- pion of organized labor as has Mr. Martin. He has defended the interests of work- ingmen's organizations in the appellate as well as in the lower courts, and as attorney for assessment benevolent associations he made a splendid reputation in the great legal contest with the state insurance commission of Missouri in 1888.
It is a well known fact that the lawyer, especially he who gains distinction in practice before the courts, has figured more prominently in public life than any other representative of professional or commercial interests. The reason for this is not far to seek, as the training which qualifies one for success at the bar also qualifies him for the clear, forcible, logical and entertaining presentation of any cause which he may espouse or which he presents to the public. On occasions of social or political importance Mr. Martin has figured prominently. He is recognized as a leader in various fraternal organizations, including the Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and various others. In all of these he has been called to official posi- tions and his efforts in their behalf have contributed much to their success. He has been assistant judge advocate general for the uniformed rank of the Knights of Pythias of Missouri and became chairman of the committee on statutory legis- lation for the Missouri Fraternal Congress.
Mr. Martin has long been a central figure in political circles in Missouri as the champion of democracy and in 1868 organized, and for years commanded, the largest uniformed political organization in the west. He has served on the city and state democratic central committees and done much effective work in behalf of the party along lines of organization. During campaigns he is frequently heard on the lecture platform and in behalf of democracy, under the auspices of the national and state committees, he has addressed the people of New York, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and other states upon the questions of vital interest. He was a prominent leader in the campaign of 1876, when Samuel J. Tilden was the presi-
dential nominee, and in 1881 was a democratic presidential elector, on which occasion he was chosen as a messenger to convey the vote of Missouri to the electoral college at Washington. When the democratic national con- vention was held in St. Louis in 1888, he acted as grand marshal of the mam- moth parade which was held, when fifty thousand men were in the line of march. In 1896 he was sergeant-at-arms of the democratic national committee and for the national convention held in Chicago and won most wide and favorable comment for the capable manner in which he discharged his duties on that occasion. He has acted as sergeant-at-arms for the past sixteen years and has been re- elected for the succeeding four years. For many years he represented the state and city in the deep waterways conventions of the Mississippi valley and the national rivers and harbors congress, being appointed by the governor of Missouri and mayor of St. Louis. He was sergeant-at-arms for the national rivers and har- bors congress which, by many of the eminent statesmen of the country, was re- garded as second in importance only to the congress of the United States. In this connection he did much valuable service, and his official duties in this organi- zation and as sergeant-at-arms in the national political conventions brought him into contact with many of the most eminent men of the nation.
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