USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 59
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Congress passed the following resolution, a copy of which was presented to Colonel Martin: "Resolved, That the best acknowledgment and thanks of the national rivers and harbors congress hereby be extended to Colonel John I. Martin of the United States of America, for his faithful services rendered as ser- geant-at-arms of the national rivers and harbors congress, and that further thanks of the congress be extended him for his speeches made and work done in the development of the waterways of the United States." Mr. Martin was at one time vice president and a member of the executive committee of the Upper River Improvement Association. He is a forceful, earnest speaker, his utterances showing that he has closely studied the matter under question and considered it from every possible viewpoint, while at all times his reasoning is sound, his deci- sions logical and his words carry weight in many important cases.
One of his admirable and forceful political addresses was made on the top of Pike's Peak on the 5th of June, 1908. On that occasion sixty or more tourists had made the ascent of the mountain on the cog railroad, and while at the top impor- tuned Colonel Martin to address them. The great majority who ascended the mountain had scarcely breath enough left in the rarefied atmosphere to make a speech, but Colonel Martin responded, and among his closing words were: "My friends, standing upon this historic spot on this most famous mountain in the world, some time ago stood the great champion of human rights and human prog- ress, educational and moral advancement, the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, and I regret exceedingly that I do not possess some of his oratorical ability for this occasion, in order that, while we are viewing the unparalleled scenery in the heart of-the Rockies, panorama of mountain and plain, the sunset from yonder golden hill at Cripple Creek, the Garden of the Gods, and the surrounding country, and contemplating the grandeur and marvelous development of the men of genius of this present age of electricity, of scientific progress and unprecedented activi- ties, I could have you enjoy with reverential awe and patriotic, exultant American pride, the achievements of the men who have by patience, fortitude, indomitable will and courageous industry, surmounted every obstacle."
Since 1896 Colonel Martin has continuously served as sergeant-at-arms of the democratic national committee and in all of the conventions of the party, in- cluding the last one, which was held in San Francisco and resulted in the nomina- tion of Cox and Roosevelt as the standard bearers of the party for 1920. Hon. Homer Cummings, chairman of the democratic national committee, and chairman of the democratic national convention held in San Francisco in behalf of the national democratic convention, presented Colonel Martin with resolutions of thanks and a solid gold badge and elected him honorary sergeant-at-arms for life. The democratic national committee, through Hon. Pat Harrison, chairman of the speakers bureau, drafted Colonel Martin to make speeches in Pennsylvania for Cox and Roosevelt, and in compliance with the request he delivered addresses at Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Lancaster, Carlisle, Altoona, Tyrone and Pittsburgh. In all the democratic rallies the women in large numbers turned out to hear the Missouri colonel. Everywhere he was vigorously applauded and tendered a vote of thanks.
In 1912 Colonel Martin attended the fifth annual convention of the Atlantic deeper waterways convention at New London, Connecticut, as a guest, representing the national rivers and harbors congress. This gathering is composed of men who have won distinction in both business and professional connections. On that occasion the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That the officers of the Association be authorized to continue membership in the national rivers and har- bors congress and the president be authorized to continue membership in the rivers and harbors congress." Colonel Martin was one of the organizers of the national rivers and harbors congress, was elected sergeant-at-arms and served in that position with ability and satisfaction. He has been reelected to the position, the last meeting of the congress being held in Washington, D. C., December 8, 9 and 10, 1920.
In 1912 Colonel Martin, through the appointing power at Washington, D. C., was made chief deputy field internal revenue collector and is at present under the jurisdiction of the Hon. George H. Moore, collector of internal revenue for Mis- souri, with offices in St. Louis.
Colonel Martin has had military experience in command of the Shaw Guard,
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a prominent military battalion of St. Louis, which under his direction attained high proficiency in discipline and drill. He had the unfaltering loyalty of his troops and was also prominently and favorably known to the officers and men of the militia of the state. For a number of years he was judge advocate of the First Brigade of the National Guard of Missouri and has been active and earnest in building up the organization in this state. Military matters have always been of deep interest to him and the soldier has no warmer friend than Colonel Martin. When Missouri sent her troops to the front at the outbreak of the Spanish- American war, he labored assiduously for the interests of the men assembled at Jefferson Barracks and again acted as chairman of the committee of leading citizens who had in charge the "welcome home" proceedings when the soldiers returned from the war. With untiring effort and energy, actuated in all that he did by a spirit of unfaltering patriotism, he labored night and day to make these demonstrations a success, receiving and entertaining in all some twelve thousand of the men who had responded to their country's call. Colonel Martin is now serving on the military staff of Hon. Frederick D. Gardner, governor of the state of Missouri, and accompanied the governor to Laclede. Missouri, to welcome General Pershing to his home. Governor Gardner presented the general a large solid gold medal, together with a proclamation acknowledging the gratitude and hearty thanks of Missouri citizens to their native son for his valiant service in winning the war.
No movement relative to the interests of St. Louis and its upbuilding along political, social, material, intellectual or moral lines fails to receive his endorse- ment and support. When the convention was held in St. Louis, January 10, 1899, to fix the time and place of holding the centennial celebration of the Louisiana purchase, he was chosen as one of the delegates from Missouri to this convention, and was there made the chairman of the committee on credentials. Later his powers of oratory were frequently employed in behalf of the movement and he remained before and throughout the period of the exposition one of its most stalwart friends and champions.
During the spring and summer of 1917 Colonel Martin as United States deputy revenue collector visited every county seat in Missouri, examined records for estate tax and made speeches to large audiences assembled from town and country on the subjects of Red Cross work and the sale of Liberty bonds. The Hannibal Morning Journal, June 15, 1917, editorially published the following: "Colonel Martin addressed Eureka Tent, Knights of the Maccabees, last night on the 'Flag' and what it stood for. At the conclusion of his strong and timely speech the Tent voted to buy a five-hundred-dollar bond." The treasurer of Eureka Tent next morning accompanied Colonel Martin to a Hannibal bank and purchased a five-hundred- dollar Liberty bond. In every city visited by Colonel Martin he was received by numerous citizens who held meetings to learn all about Red Cross work and Liberty bond sales. The Colonel eloquently presented partiotic reasons why every citizen should own Liberty bonds and identify himself with this laudable American cause, resulting in the rapid sale of Liberty bonds. The allotments were oversub- scribed and Red Cross clubs organized and enthusiastically entered into active and successful accomplishments. Governor Frederick D. Gardner of Missouri appointed Hon. Ernst F. Oakley prosecuting attorney for St. Louis city and re- quested Mr. Oakley to appoint Colonel Martin first assistant prosecuting attorney, which appointment was promptly made. Colonel Martin was sworn in and is now actively performing the duties assigned him.
While Colonel Martin has been most active in connection with public affairs pertaining to the progress of city, commonwealth and country, he has also con- tinued a member of the St. Louis bar, and aside from being licensed to practice in the circuit courts of the city and county of St. Louis, he was licensed to practice before the circuit court and the United States district court of the northern district of Illinois, the state supreme court of Illinois and the supreme court of the United States. In everything that he has attempted he has won success. He is a broad-minded man of high principles, holds to lofty ideals of citizenship and in every relation of life has commanded the confidence and respect of his fellowmen.
Pleasantly situated in his home life, Colonel Martin was married to Miss Clara E. LaBarge, a daughter of Captain Charles LaBarge, a pioneer river captain and steamboat owner. Their children are three in number: MacDonald, who is
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associated with his father in business; Clara E., the wife of M. C. Zederhaum, civil engineer and superintendent of construction in Yonkers, New York; and Frances O., the wife of William M. Drumm, national lumber inspector.
At this point it would be almost tautological to enter into any series of state- ments as showing Colonel Martin to he a man of broad intelligence and genuine public spirit, for this has been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. Strong in his individuality, he never lacks the courage of his convictions. No plan nor movement for the benefit of the city along lines of progress and improve- ment seeks his aid in vain. The public work that he has done has largely been of a nature that has brought no pecuniary reward, and yet has made extensive demands upon his time, his thought and his energies. He holds friendship in- violable, and as true worth may always win his regard, he has a very extensive circle of friends, and his life demonstrates the truth of Emerson's statement that "The way to win a friend is to be one." He has, perhaps, as many warm admirers among his political enemies as among those with whom he works in political lines. The soldier boy is ever his champion, while in fraternal circles he has the warmest regard of all with whom he has come in contact.
ALBERT B. GROVES.
Albert B. Groves, a St. Louis architect, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, December 8, 1868. His father was John Groves, a mechanical and construction engineer and iron manufacturer, who was born in Birmingham, England, and passed away in 1888. Coming to the new world he built large mills in Boston and Fall River, Massachusetts, in Rome, New York, and Sandusky, Ohio. The flexible iron, called J. G. iron, was first made by him and his initials were used as the name for the new process, and it is still made in the plant at Rome, New York. The Groves family in both America and England has numbered among its members many professional men of high attainment. John Groves was united in marriage to Miss Mary Southall, a daughter of Enoch Southall, a wholesale baker of Pleck- Walsall, England. She passed away in 1908 in North Adams, Massachusetts.
Albert B. Groves obtained his early education in the public schools of Rome, New York, to which place his parents had removed when he was but three years of age, his father at that time being engaged in the erection of an iron plant in Rome. Passing through consecutive grades in the public schools, the son was gradu- ated from a high school in 1884 and afterward entered Cornell University, in which he completed his course in 1888, winning the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Architecture. He afterward spent two years with the firm of F. E. Edbrooke & Company, of Denver, Colorado, well known architects, and later he traveled and studied in France and Italy for two years. He entered upon the practice of his profession in St. Louis in 1891 as junior member of the firm of Grable, Weber & Groves, and in 1898 he succeeded to the business of the firm and admitted A. Weber to a partnership. Since the death of the latter in 1905 he has practiced alone, and for more than a quarter of a century he has occupied a prominent and enviable position in architectural circles in this city.
On the 9th of March, 1892, in St. Charles, Missouri, Mr. Groves was married to Miss Clara Bethel Baker, and they have become the parents of five children. The eldest, Theron A. Groves, is engaged in business with his father. At America's entrance into the World war he enlisted in the navy at Newport, Rhode Island, and after a three months' training was stationed on a submarine chaser on which he did duty until January, 1919, becoming chief petty officer. Vera A., the second of the family, is the wife of Ralph W. Sigel, of St. Louis. The younger children of the family are Mercedes C., John Marcellus and Mary Phillis. The family reside in a beautiful home at 5419 Maple avenue in St. Louis.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church and politically Mr. Groves is a republican. Fraternally he is connected with Beacon Lodge, No. 3, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past master, and he also belongs to St. Louis Chapter, R. A. M .; St. Aldemar Commandery, K. T .; St. Louis Consistory, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite; and Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise identified with the Sunset Hill Country Club, Glen
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ALBERT B. GROVES
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Echo Country Club, St. Louis Club, City Club, the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He is appreciative of the social amenities of life, nor is he ever neglectful of the opportunities to aid in the advancement and welfare of the city and bears his full share in the work of public progress and improvement. Along professional lines he has accomplished much and he is one of the few architects whose style is so individually characteristic that one familiar with it can instantly pick out any of the buildings which are his creations. He was the designer of Tuscan Temple on Kings Highway which is everywhere known as one of the most perfect Doric structures of the country. Its interior, which was also designed by Mr. Groves, is marvelously beautiful, while the exterior is an exponent of the highest type of Greek architecture. Mr. Groves has erected buildings in St. Louis to the value of over thirty million dollars. He was the designer of most of the wholesale buildings on Washington avenue from Fourteenth to Twenty-first streets and now has charge of the erection of new buildings in the same section which will cost a million dollars or more. He is the designer of eighteen different churches in St. Louis, including the Westminster Presbyterian, the Maple Avenue Methodist and the Union Avenue Christian church. He designed the St. Louis Hospital and com- pleted the city hall. He was the architect of the latest addition to the building of the Mercantile Trust Company, the Liberty Bank and the office building of Union Electric Light & Power Company at Twelfth and Locust streets, also that of the Missouri State Life Insurance Company and the White House office building and eleven buildings which constitute features of the plant of the Brown Shoe Company. His out of town work has covered nearly every section of the country. At Tampa, Florida, he constructed the First National Bank Building and the beautiful Taliaferro home. His work is also seen in Denver, Oklahoma and the state of New York, and among the beautiful residences in St. Louis designed by Mr. Groves are those of Breckenridge Jones and George Warren Brown. His work seems to express a keen appreciation of architectural beauty, and in construction the utmost attention is given also to comfort and convenience as well as to attractiveness of design.
JOHN FRANCIS CLANCY.
John Francis Clancy, attorney at law with offices in the Title Guarantee building in St. Louis, was born March 24, 1887, in this city. His father, James Clancy, also born in St. Louis, is the son of the late Martin Clancy, a native of Ireland who came to America in the early '50s and settled in St. Louis where he resided throughout his remaining days. He was a Civil war veteran, serving during the entire period of hos- tilities between the north and the south. By trade he was a boilermaker and lived a most active and useful life, reaching the advanced age of eighty years ere he passed to his final rest in 1900. His son, James Clancy, was reared and educated in St. Louis and is now living retired from active business pursuits. He married Bridget O'Donnell, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and of Irish descent. In the family were nine children, six sons and three daughters.
John Francis Clancy, the second in order of birth, was educated in the public and parochial schools to the age of twelve years and after leaving school was employed in general office work. Subsequently he became a reporter on the St. Louis Post Dis- patch and while thus employed he attended night classes in the St. Louis University, devoting his attention to the study of law. He was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1909 and immediately entered upon the practice of the profession for which he had so carefully prepared. He has since engaged in general practice and has displayed marked ability in trying all kinds of cases. His knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence is comprehensive and exact and he displays marked ability in applying these principles to the points in litigation. He belongs to the St. Louis and the Missouri State Bar Associations.
Mr. Clancy acted as the secretary of the St. Louis local board, division No. 21 of the war department, serving from 1917 to the spring of 1919, and he was also very active in the Red Cross and in support of other organizations whose labors greatly furthered the war interests. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus and is a member of the Holy Name Roman Catholic church. He also holds membership in the Riverview Club and the Hillview Club. He has justly won the proud American title of a self-made
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man, for he started out in the business world when a lad of twelve years. Since that time he has continuously been dependent upon his own resources. The elemental strength of his character was shown in the way in which he prepared for his profes- sional career. Recognizing the value of education he put forth every effort to pro- mote his knowledge and increase his ability as an active factor in the world's work and in the course of time has developed his powers to a high point of efficiency in the trial of cases.
WILLIAM W. PHILLIPS.
William W. Phillips, president and manager of the William W. Phillips Supply Company of St. Louis, is engaged in the manufacture of inked ribbons and carbon papers and also handles various other office supplies, and under the guidance of Mr. Phillips a business of extensive and gratifying proportions has been developed. Mr. Phillips was born November 15, 1874, in Nova, Ohio. His father, John W. Phillips, was a farmer of that state and there continued to engage in agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1917. He, too, was born in Ohio, a son of John and Mary Ann (Parker) Phillips. The former was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and came to America at an early age, settling in Ohio, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, on the present site of Cleveland. On account of the poor soil there the family removed fifty miles to the southwest, taking up their abode in Troy township. It was there that John Phillips met and married Mary Ann Parker, a daughter of Joseph S. and Eunice Parker, who were among the earliest settlers of the Buckeye state. Joseph S. Parker fought in the War of 1812 and was on Perry's flagship in the battle of Lake Erie.
While John W. Phillips, father of William W. Phillips, came of sturdy Scotch ancestry, his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Jane Motter, was of Holland Dutch descent and died two years prior to the time that her husband passed away, her death occurring March 12, 1915. She was a daughter of Frederick Motter, who enlisted in the Union army at the beginning of the Civil war and fought with an Ohio regiment throughout the entire period of hostilities. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Phillips were two daughters, the elder being Sarah, who became the wife of Alva T. Troxel, a prosperous farmer living near Shiloh, Ohio, while the younger daughter is Mary Elnora, the wife of Howard Biddinger, of Nova, Ohio.
The only son of the family is William W. Phillips of this review, who acquired his early education in the public schools of his native state, completing a high school course by graduation, after which he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in Ohio for several years. At the age of twenty-two he entered business on his own account in Cleveland, Ohio, turning his attention to mechanical and engineering lines, in which he continued for about three years. Then in order to qualify for a more important and lucrative position he began the study of law under R. L. Carr, an eminent member of the bar in his home town. When he had acquired considerable knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence he turned his attention to the accounting business and was for many years connected with the Hammond and later the Underwood Typewriter Companies in charge of various branch offices. On the 1st of December, 1917, he organized the William W. Phillips Supply Company, in which he owns a controlling interest. He has since bent his energies to the direction and development of the business, which has become one of the flourishing commercial interests of St. Louis. The company manufactures inked ribbons and carbon papers and covers thirty-two states in its trade, employing several traveling salesmen. He readily recognizes the essential features in every business transaction with which he is engaged, and the careful management of his interests has led him to a gratifying point of success.
On the 10th of May, 1919, Mr. Phillips was married to Miss Christina Brock, a daughter of Mrs. Margaret Brock, of St. Louis. Mr. Phillips had two children by a former marriage: Lois, of Cleveland, Ohio; and Justin, who is a student in the Missouri Military Academy.
Something of the personal characteristics of Mr. Phillips is indicated in the fact that while he was on the road he was most popular, and when he gave up
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traveling in 1916, one hundred of the traveling men of Missouri and the southwest contributed to a fund and presented him with a handsome diamond ring, which he most highly prizes as an expression of their friendship and regard. Mr. Phillips is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and also of the St. Louis Rotary Club. He likewise belongs to the National Credit Men's Association and is keenly inter- ested in these organizations, which are looking to the betterment of trade condi- tions and the advancement of business standards. Fraternally he is a Mason who has taken the degrees of the York Rite and is also a member of Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine in St. Louis. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church and he served for some time as a member of its hoard of stewards. Mr. Phillips has personal acquaintance with President Harding and was also acquainted with Presidents Mckinley and Roosevelt. In politics he is a stanch republican and he was solicited by his friends to become a candidate for the republican nomina- tion for state auditor in 1920. Whlie he did not win the nomination, he received a popular vote of about sixty thousand, standing second highest among the can- didates for the office. He works untiringly to bring about republican successes and was vice president for Missouri of the National Harding and Coolidge Traveling Men's Association. After the great victory won in Missouri for the republican party he received a complimentary letter of congratulation from Kane M. Fergu- son, president of the League of Ohio, congratulating him on his good work and the results which he obtained in Missouri. He has been closely associated with public interests here for a considerable period and has made for himself an especially enviahle place in business circles, winning a reputation that is most gratifying among his contemporaries in the business life of the city, while his social standing is equally desirable. He never deviates from a course which he believes to be right between himself and his fellowmen, and his high sense of honor has made the name of the William W. Phillips Supply Company a synonym for the most thorough reliability in commercial dealings.
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