USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 66
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HENRY S. STIX.
Henry S. Stix, who wrote the first policy for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insur- ance Company in the state of Missouri after the company returned to the state and who for many years figured prominently as a leading representative of insurance interests in St. Louis, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 15, 1850, his parents heing Henry and Pauline (Thurnauer) Stix.
He was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati and became connected with his father in the clothing manufacturing business, in which he continued for many years. In 1903 he removed to St. Louis and in 1905 became associated with the North- western Mutual Life Insurance Company, with which he continued until his death March 14, 1921. For the past fourteen years Mr. Stix was district manager of the company and during that time won a conspicuous place for himself as a warm advo- cate of family and business protection as a social service of the first importance. He believed that life insurance was love in action, carrying out the purposes of the head of the family, and hence his efforts have been potential in a marked degree.
In 1878 Mr. Stix was united in marriage to Miss Clara Friedlander, of which union there are three children: Charles, Harry and Helen (now Mrs. George Kuh). Fra- ternally Mr. Stix was a Mason, belonging to Cincinnati Lodge, No. 133, and to the Royal Arch Chapter. He likewise belonged to the Columbian Club, and was a member of Temple Israel. His leisure was largely devoted to wide reading and deep study and though not a college man he possessed marked literary ability and is the author of a vol- ume which was published in 1917 entitled The Three Men of Judea, a work that shows broad familiarity with sacred literature and has won for him much favorable comment. With all of his extensive and varied interests he made a success in life and was highly esteemed as a man of high character and marked ability.
JOHN E. WESTAVER, M. D.
John E. Westaver, physician and surgeon of St. Louis, was horn October 11, 1852, in Ashland County, Ohio, his parents being Samuel and Mary (Cramer) Westaver, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania and of German descent. The father was a suc- cessful farmer and stock raiser who passed away in Ashland county, Ohio, January 26, 1904, when more than eighty-four years of age, and the mother survived only until the 1st of April of the same year, reaching the age of eighty-two years when called to her final rest. Their family numbered six daughters and two sons.
Dr. Westaver, the fourth member of the family, was a pupil in the country schools of his native county until he had mastered the preliminary branches of learning, after
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which he entered the University of Michigan and was there graduated in 1896. He took up the study of medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his course as an alumnus of 1898. His early boyhood was spent on the home farm with the usual experiences of the farm bred boy, but after he had completed his professional course he entered upon the practice of medicine in St. Louis where he has since re- mained. As the years have passed he has largely specialized in gynecology, but his knowledge of all branches of medical practice is comprehensive and exact. He studies broadly, thinks deeply and is seldom if ever at fault in foretelling the outcome of dis- ease or in diagnosing his case. He belongs to the American Association of Progressive Medicine.
At Sedalia, Missouri, ou the 5th of August, 1881, Dr. Westaver was married to Miss Minnie White, a native of Ohio, born in Cincinnati, and a daughter of the late Edwin White, who was a Civil war veteran and died while in the service of his country. Her mother was Mrs. Dora (Goodman) White. To Dr. and Mrs. Westaver has been born a son, Dr. Edward C. Westaver, who is now a practicing physician and surgeon of St. Louis. He was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons May 2, 1918, and has since successfully practiced. He married Miss Bertha Reid, a native of Pana, Illinois, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Reid of that place. Dr. and Mrs. Edward C. Westaver have become parents of two children, Edward and Dorothy. Profession- ally the son has followed in his father's footsteps and the name of Westaver has long figured prominently in connection with medical and surgical practice in Missouri. There is much that is commendable in the life record of Dr. John E. Westaver, inasmuch as from the age of seventeen years he has depended upon his own resources and his ability and energy have brought him steadily to the front. His course should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what can be accomplished through individua! effort. Politically he is a democrat but he has never been an office seeker. He belongs to Clayton Lodge, No. 601, A. F. & A. M .; to Rabboni Chapter, No. 131, R. A. M., of Web- ster Groves; Hiram Council, R. & S. M .; Ascalon Commandery, No. 16, K. T .; to the Mystic Shrine; to the Grotto, and the Eastern Star, and Masonry finds in him a worthy and exemplary representative. He is also a loyal and consistent member of the Meth- odist church of Vinita Park.
GEORGE JEFFERSON MERSEREAU.
George Jefferson Mersereau, a Kansas City attorney who has engaged in practice here since 1900, was born November 20, 1875, in Owego, New York, and is a son of George J. and Adeline (Steele) Mersereau. He is of the sixth generation in the line of descent from Daniel Mersereau, one of the Huguenot refugees, who was born at Santonge, near Rochelle, France, and settled on Staten Island about 1688. There he was married in 1693 to Susane Marie Doucinet. Mr. Mersereau is a descendant in the fourth generation from Daniel and Cornelia (Vanderbilt) Mersereau. Through his mother, Lucy Adeline Steele, his ancestry is traced to many of the early colonial settlers, namely: Robert Carr, of Rhode Island, 1639; Ralph Earle, of Rhode Island, 1638; Thomas Ensign, of Scituate, Massachusetts, 1635; Stephen Gates, of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1638; Elder Edward Howe, of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1634; Thomas King, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, about 1638; John Moore, of Sudbury, 1638; Thomas Peirce, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1630; Deacon Edmund Rice, of Sudbury, 1638; Ralph Shepard, of Malden, Massachusetts, 1635; Deacon Gregory Stone, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1635; and Elizabeth Wilder, of Sudbury, 1638.
David Mersereau, his grandfather, was one of the early pioneers of Owego, Tioga county, New York, who secured from the government a large tract of land lying along the Susquehanna river, and the original homestead of the family is now owned by John F. Mersereau, an uncle. George J. Mersereau, deceased, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Owego, and upon his marriage was given by his father a portion of the Mersereau lands, which is now owned by his oldest child, Mrs. L. Emmett Wicks, of Owego. He engaged in the business of farming and stock raising rather extensively and following the death of his father, more especially in the business of loans and mortgages. Mr. Mersereau was likewise active in town affairs and gave his political support to the republican party. He passed away in 1879, his widow surviving him for more than three decades, her death occurring January 10, 1910. Their chil-
GEORGE J. MERSEREAU
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dren are: Mrs. L. Emmett Wicks, Mrs. Amella G. Taylor, and Mrs. Frank S. Truman, all of Owego, New York; Mrs. Charles D. Mann of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Mrs. Walter B. Richards, Mrs. Percy Thompson, Mr. Harmon D. Mersereau, and Mr. George J. Mersereau, all of Kansas City, Missouri.
The last named attended the public schools of Owego, thus preparing for his college course. He won his LL. B. degree upon graduation from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, with the class of 1899 and during his college days became a member of the Greek letter fraternity Chi Phi. Mr. Mersereau entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1900 with the firm of Lathrop, Morrow, Fox & Moore and was admitted to a partnership in the firm in 1910. He has thus been associated through twenty years and is now attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company, devoting substantially all of his time to its legal matters in Missouri and Iowa. Their position is one of prominence at the Missouri bar and the ability of Mr. Mersereau adds not a little to the well earned reputation of the firm. He belongs to the Kansas City, the Missouri State and the American Bar Associations and enjoys the high respect of his professional brethren by reason of his close conformity to the highest ethical standards.
On the 25th of January, 1917, Mr. Mersereau was married to Miss Mary Edna Beaham, a daughter of Thomas G. Beaham, deceased, who was one of the well known business men of Kansas City, having been the founder and president of the Faultless Starch Company.
In his political views Mr. Mesereau is a stanch republican and is allied with those wholesome, purifying reforms which have been growing up in both parties, making for higher standard of American citizenship. He attends St. Paul's Episcopal church and is well known in the club circles of Missouri as a member of the University Club, the Kansas City Country Club and the Kansas City Club.
JOHN F. SCHOPFLIN.
John F. Schopflin, manager of the switch and factory properties of the real estate department of the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis, was born in Newark, New Jersey, February 11, 1862. His father, the late Frank Schopflin, was a native of Ger- many but came to America when a young lad prior to the Civil war and settled in Chicago. He afterward became a captain of lake craft and followed this pursuit for many years. He was a Civil war veteran and in later life resided in Denver, Colo- rado, but he spent his last days in Kansas City, where he passed away in 1892 at the age of sixty years. His wife, Esther L. Schopflin, was a native of Sweden and in young girlhood came to America, being married in New York. She, too, died in Kansas City, her death occurring in 1891 when she was fifty-eight years of age. In their family were three sons and two daughters.
John F. Schopflin, the eldest child, was educated in Palmer's Academy, a private school of Kansas City, and when twenty-one years of age started out to earn his liveli- hood, his first position being with the Council Bluff Railroad at Kansas City. He served the corporation as a stenographer and was afterward with the Santa Fe, Missouri Pacific, and Kansas City Southern Railroad Company. In 1900 he returned to the Missouri Pacific as chief clerk in the office of the terminal superintendent at St. Louis. During the latter period he was also with the Southern Trust Company of Memphis, Tennessee, for two years, acting as an expert on farm properties, being qualified for this position through the experience and education he had derived from his railroad connection. He was also associated with the Holbrook-Blackwelder Real Estate Com- pany of St. Louis for eighteen months and on the 8th of December, 1909, became con- ' nected with the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis in the switch and factory prop- erties division of the real estate department. In this connection he has been one of the instruments in locating and establishing many of the leading industries of St. Louis. His previous railroad and business experience have stood him in good stead since entering upon his present connections. He knows all the problems of shipment and transportation, is familiar with distances and with a recognition of the fact that St. Louis is practically the center of America as regards production along many lines he has been able to present most strong arguments on behalf of the selection of the city as a place of location for industrial enterprises and through the reconstruction period
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since the war many important business concerns have become factors in the industrial and commercial growth and development of the city through the efforts and agencies of Mr. Schopflin. He is a man of broad vision, alert and energetic and has become a dynamic force in the progress of the city.
In St. Louis Mr. Schopflin was married to Miss Fannie Jones, a native of St. Louis county and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jones of St. Ferdinand, Missouri, both representatives of old families of St. Louis county. There are two sons of this mar- riage: John Edward, born October 31, 1910; and Frederick Frank, September 24, 1912, hoth natives of St. Louis. The family is of the Presbyterian faith. During the World war Mr. Schopflin took an active part in support of Red Cross and Liberty loan drives. He is a democrat in politics but not an office seeker. His attention is given to business affairs and his success is due entirely to his own efforts and perseverance. Since 1916 he has been instrumental in establishing in the new industrial district of the city enterprises representing an investment of twenty-five million dollars. At the time he took up the work of developing that district there were but two small industries within its borders. Today there are mammoth plants of various kinds and those added under the direction of Mr. Schopflin have in several connections placed St. Louis in a point of_leadership in the matter of trade in the country.
LUCAS DUFFNER.
Lucas Duffner, owner and president of the De Soto Dairy, Ice and Supply Com- pany, was born in Baden, Germany, October 19, 1856. The father of Mr. Duffner was Joseph Anthony Duffner who was born in Baden, Germany, in May, 1824, and passed away in his native land in 1891. His grandfather, John Duffner, was em- ployed by the Benedictine monks and when he decided to marry they gave him a tract of land with the understanding that the use of it should terminate in three generations. John Duffner tilled this land and his son Kuno became the next owner of it, then it passed to Joseph Anthony Duffner at whose death the property passed from the family. The mother of Lucas Duffner was Marie Kornhaas, a native of Germany who was born in 1824 and passed away in 1891. Her father was a miller and a blacksmith and the family still carries on the same occupation there, having been the millers in that locality for many generations. Lucas Duffner was educated in the public schools of Baden, Germany, and when he came to this country he improved himself by his attendance at the night schools and his earnest resolve to become a successful man. He had little difficulty in making himself understood in the United States as he had learned to speak English while in school in Germany and also had some knowledge of French. He came to the United States alone in May, 1881, and went directly to St. Louis in search of a job. He remained there two weeks at the end of which time he was without financial resources, and as there was no work to be had he set out on foot for Litchfield, Illinois, a distance of sixty-five miles which he covered in four days. During this journey he was obliged to sleep in the woods. Arriving at his destination he secured work in the railroad shops where he was employed as a saw filer, and later became helper on machinery repairs for three months. He had learned the machinist's trade in Germany where he worked a year after having served his apprenticeship and was assured by his employer that he would have no difficulty in securing a position and that he would employ him any time he wanted to accept work. The first pay Mr. Duffner received in Litchfield was one dollar and seventy cents per day and this sum was later raised to two dollars. However, he was not pleased with the future promise of this work so he returned to St. Louis and secured a position in the machine shop of George Fritz where he remained four years working as a machinist. During this time he attended night school and took private lessons in drawing and mathematics, pre- paratory to taking up the study of engineering. While he was in the employ of this machine shop his pay was raised from two dollars per day to the highest wages paid to any employe there. In 1885, when he left the Fritz machine shop, he passed an examination for stationary engineer and went to work as the assistant engineer for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in the refrigerating department. He remained in this position six years and during this time worked twelve hours a day and took but few holidays. His ability and perseverance were recognized, for
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he was promoted from third assistant to the position of first assistant and was given especial charge of the first successful artificial ice plant in St. Louis. In 1891 he . accepted a position with the William J. Lemp Brewing Company at the urgent insist- ence of Mr. Lemp, who employed him as chief engineer of the ice machines and boilers and in a few months he was made chief engineer of the whole plant having under his supervision the bottle shop, malt house, brewery, wash house, drying plant, ice plant, machine shop, four boiler plants and the Western Cable Railway.
For the first two or three months it was necessary for him to work night and day in order to get the immense work in shape but after he had it systematized he was not called upon for night duty. After ten successful years at the Lemp Brewing Company Mr. Duffner left to take another position and upon his departure was presented with a diamond studded watch by the men who had worked under him as a token of their appreciation of his splendid qualities and of their goodwill.
Mr. Duffner then bought stock in the Empire Brewing Company which was in the course of construction. He became superintendent of the erection of the plant and after the structure had been completed was made master mechanic and chief engineer of the concern, and under his supervision an ice plant and a bottling plant were built. He remained with this company ten years, resigning March 1, 1911. He lived on the farm he still owns in St. Louis county and rested from active labor until September of the same year when he purchased the Mississippi Valley Dairy and Artesian Ice Company at DeSoto, Missouri, in order to establish his. sons in business.
The plant was in a deteriorated condition and by earnest labor and untiring effort Mr. Duffner succeeded in getting it into shape. The buildings cover half a block and the plant has a capacity for fifteen tons of ice per day, eight hundred gallons of ice-cream and an annual capacity of one hundred thousand pounds. Here is manufactured ice-cream for a territory of one hundred and fifty miles south from DeSoto. In 1914 it was one of the five ice-cream manufacturing plants in Missouri that passed the stringent requirements of the pure food law. A large business of jobbers of merchandise is carried on here, and a candy manufac- turing plant is being established. During the winter the men and teams are kept busy with a coal and wood business. This manufacturing plant was first operated as the DeSoto Dairy, Ice & Supply Company with a capital stock of five thousand dollars, and they are now contemplating increasing it to seventy-five thousand dol- lars, their total resources now being about eighty-five thousand dollars. The progress made can readily be seen as the resources were but nine thousand dollars when the plant was taken over by Mr. Duffner. Mr. Lucas Duffner is the president and treasurer of the concern, Bernard Duffner is the secretary and Frederick Duffner is the creamery manager, while Mary T. Duffner, a daughter, is the bookkeeper in the office. Mr. Duffner and his two sons constitute the board of directors and there are about eighteen or twenty employes. Mr. Duffner is a man who could not give less than all of his attention and skill to a project he undertakes and his efforts have always been attended by splendid success. When he was in the employ of the Lemp Brewing Company it was said that that concern's bottling department was largely the result of Mr. Duffner's ideas and patents used in the construction of it. The Lemp Brewing Company had the best equipped bottling plant of its kind in the world.
Mr. Duffner was married April 13, 1885, in St. Louis to Miss Teresa Kratzer, the daughter of Frances (Geng) and Ignatius Kratzer, natives of Germany who came to America and settled in St. Louis where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were a prominent old family in Baden. To Mr. and Mrs. Duffner have been born three children: Bernard Anthony is with his father in business as secre- tary and director. He attended the parochial schools of St. Louis, spent three years in St. Louis University, is a graduate of the St. Louis Manual Training school of the class of 1904, and was one year in Washington University. Upon completing his education he worked with his father in the Empire Brewing Company. He was married June 11, 1912, to Miss Catherine Anna Kriegshauser, and to them have been born four children: Louis Herman, Elmer Frederick, George Edwin and Mary Elizabeth; Mary Teresa Duffner, a daughter, was educated at St. Elizabeth's In- stitute at St. Louis after finishing the parochial school. She then attended the DeSoto Business College, taking a course in bookkeeping. She also took the Red Cross course in home cooking and is well versed in domestic science. Miss Duffner is now connected with the family business as bookkeeper; Frederick William Duff-
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ner, the youngest child, was educated in the parochial schools of St. Louis, afterward attended the St. Louis Preparatory College and then entered the business of his father. After he had worked for three years in the interest of his father he went to the University of Missouri and took the special creamery course, specializing in butter and ice-cream making, which fitted him for his present position as creamery manager for the family corporation. He is now studying law by correspondence with the American Extension University of Los Angeles, California. He is a very earnest and industrious student and makes his home with his parents.
Mr. Lucas Duffner and his family are members of the St. Rose of Lima parish of DeSoto and all of the members of the family are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Duffner and his two sons are members of the Knights of Columbus, St. Rose of Lima Council, No. 1185, and the two young men are members of the Elks, DeSoto Lodge, No. 689. Mr. Duffner is a member of the Brotherhood of Stationary Engineers of St. Louis, and of the Baden Benevolent Society of St. Louis. In politics he lends his support to the republican party, although he has never held a public office, preferring to give his time and attention to the interests of his business. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers and Citizens State Bank of DeSoto and has since the organization been one of the directors as well as the vice president. Mr. Duffner may well be proud of the success he has gained due entirely to his own efforts as he is in every sense a self-made man. By perseverance, determination and honorable effort he has overcome the obstacles which barred his path to success, and his genuine worth, broad mind and public spirit have made him a director of public thought and action.
JUDGE KARL KIMMEL.
Judge Karl Kimmel was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, November 29, 1874. His father and mother, Peter and Christine Kimmel, went to the then thriving town in the early '60s and made it their permanent home. They accumulated a competence and were highly respected, substantial citizens. There are two brothers and a sister: George, living in Washington, D. C .; and Fred and Mrs. Lillian Thorn, living in Min- neapolis, Minnesota.
Karl, as he was then known, left grammar school at the age of thirteen and went to work in the office of two famous lawyers, Thomas P. Fenlon and John H. Atwood, in his home city. During a stay of three years in their office, his employers, after the fashion of most great men, became interested in the boy and urged him to perfect himself for the legal profession. So he decamped for Baker University where he com- pleted a four-year literary course, while subsequently he was graduated in the law in 1897 at the Missouri State University where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Looking for a profitable place in which to practice his profession he naturally chose St. Louis. He worked steadily and successfully at his profession until 1911 when he gave up a law practice which was then netting him five thousand dol- lars a year for an appointment as judge of City Court No. 1, which paid a salary of but twenty-five hundred dollars a year. This was his first political venture and his friends, naturally inquisitive as to the purpose of such a financial sacrifice, were advised to wait and see. He had plans and ambitions for this court which had fallen into disrepute, and these plans were to carry him further up the ladder of success and public approval. He immediately began to abolish abuses in the court and gave the plain citizen increased hope of fair dealing. "Justice and charity go hand in hand and are not blind to human weaknesses," was his original motto, practically applied. In a short time this young, energetic and capable judge, imbued with honest motives, sincere purposes and practical progressive ideas, lifted the court over which he pre- sided to a lofty plane where all good citizens could approve and did approve. He established a code of sensible and just rules governing court proceedings which before his administration remained in doubt. He placed eight mottoes on the walls. of his court which humanized and elevated its moral standard. He prepared and fathered the passage of the parole laws applying to city courts and organized the department of parole. He established a charity fund with which he gave aid to needy persons coming into his court. He influenced the adoption in the new city charter of the Municipal Farm plan, indeterminate sentence of alcoholics and victims of the drug
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