USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 69
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
W. ROLLA ROGERS.
W. Rolla Rogers, president of the Rogers-Schmitt Wire & Iron Company of St. Louis was born in Nashville, Illinois, September 27, 1872, being a son of John F. and Elizabeth (Ferguson) Rogers, the former a native of the state of Tennessee, while the latter was born in Illinois, in which state they were married. After removing to Illinois the father there engaged in the contracting business for many years but is now living retired in Webster Groves, Missouri. To him and his wife were born five children, of whom W. Rolla is the eldest, the four younger heing daughters.
In the public schools of his native city W. Rolla Rogers pursued his education and after his textbooks were put aside he became connected with his father in the con- tracting business. When he had attained his majority he removed to St. Louis and accepted a position with the Excelsior Wire & Iron Company and was later connected with the Lasar Letzig Manufacturing Company, which concern succeeded to the business of the Excelsior Wire & Iron Company. He remained with the second firm until Feb- ruary, 1909, when he organized the Rogers-Schmitt Manufacturing Company of which he was made president and through the intervening period he has continued as the chief executive head. This company manufactures wire and does all kinds of wire and iron work and manufactured supplies for the government during the World war.
In Ashley, Illinois, in 1895, Mr. Rogers was united in marriage to Miss Harriett E. Meffert and they have become parents of two sons: Harold L., who is now secre- tary and treasurer of the Rogers-Schmitt Wire & Iron Company; and Donald P., a student in the Soldan high school.
He is a Knights Templar Mason, helonging to Ivanhoe Commandery and is also a member of Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is connected with the Missouri Athletic Association and with the St. Louis Architectural Society and he has member- ship in the Mt. Auburn Methodist Episcopal church in which he is serving as a member of the board of trustees. His life has ever been governed by high and honorable prin- ciples and the sterling worth of his character is recognized by all with whom he has come into contact.
ALVIN HICKMAN SCHUREMAN.
Alvin Hickman Schureman has been identified with the banking interests of St. Louis for thirty years and is now the treasurer of the City Trust Company. One who has known him long and well speaks of him as a man of unquestioned integrity and morality, devoted to all those interests which are ennobling and uplifting. He was born in St. Louis, September 29, 1869, and is a son of John Nelson and Eliza- beth (Saville) Schureman. The family is descended from Harman Schureman who was born in Holland in 1595 and came to America in 1620, settling in New Amster- dam, now New York City. Eleven generations of this name have been native born Americans.
Alvin Hickman Schureman after attending the public schools became a student in the Washington University of St. Louis. He initiated his business career in con- nection with the banking firm of W. H. Schureman & Company with which he was associated for several years. He was later with the Continental National Bank of St. Louis and afterward with the National Bank of Commerce for a number of years,
ALVIN H. SCHUREMAN
633
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
while subsequently he spent five years in the life insurance business. Three years ago, however, he again entered banking circles, becoming treasurer of the City Trust Company of St. Louis, of which W. O. Schock, mentioned elsewhere in this work, is the president. His long experience in handling financial interests has developed expert ability in this direction and enables him to speak with authority upon financial prob- lems. He is also a director of the company, which has its place of business at No. 1132 Washington avenue, in the heart of the great wholesale district of the city.
In 1890 Mr. Schureman was united in marriage to Miss Blanche Quarrier Baker, of Virginia, and they are the parents of two children: Kenneth Danforth, who is the Cleveland representative of the St. Louis house of the Bradley Stencil Machine Company; and Louise, the wife of William Bartlett Adams of St. Louis, and the mother of one son, William B., Jr., who is now five years of age. Kenneth D. also has a son, Kenneth D., Junior, who is one year old.
Mr. Schureman belongs to Tuscan Lodge, No. 360, F. & A. M. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and his religious faith is that of the Christian Science church, in which he was a reader for four years. He is a man of fine personal character, highly respected and with many warm friends. He is a lover of music and of pictures, being regarded as a musical critic of high ability. He has given much time to the study of political history, and is a man of broad culture. As one of his friends expressed it, "I have a notion that it is Christian Science and not Elbert Hubbard which makes him keep the six days of the week holy as well as the seventh. Briefly, he is a typical southern gentleman, a thorough-going American, with a passion for the facts and incidents which have made America great."
HORACE M. SWOPE.
Horace M. Swope, the secretary and treasurer of the Swope Shoe Company, one of the important commercial interests of St. Louis, was born in 1883 in the city which is still his home, his parents being Meier and Jennie (Marks) Swope. The father was born at St. Lengsfeld, Germany, April 17, 1850, his parents being H. and B. (Sond- heimer) Swope. He was educated in the public schools of his native country and in a private school of Frankfort-on-Main and in 1866 he came from Europe to the new world, making his way to St. Louis. Since 1867 he has been connected with the retail shoe trade of the city, entering the store that was originally established by his brother, Joel Swope. Admitted to a partnership, the name of Swope Brothers was adopted in 1882 and under that style the business was continued until 1901, at which time they incorporated under the name of the Swope Shoe Company, the brother Joel having previously passed away. The Swope Shoe Company has always handled high grade shoes for ladies and gentlemen and its business has steadily grown and developed, Meier Swope still remaining at its head as the president. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his religious faith is that of the Jewish church, while in club circles he is a popular member of the Columbian and Westwood Country Clubs.
After attending the public schools of St. Louis Horace M. Swope entered Harvard College and was there graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1905. With hls re- turn home he entered the employ of the Swope Shoe Company and acquainting himself with every phase of the trade has steadily advanced and is now the secretary and treasurer. To the interests of the company he devotes the major part of his time and since becoming an active member of the firm they have extended the scope of their trade to include a fine line of high grade hosiery for ladies and gentlemen. Horace M. Swope is a most progressive business man, alert to all the interests and oppor- tunities of the trade, is popular with all who know him-with employes and patrons alike and has a host of warm friends. The Swope Shoe Company employs about seventy-five people.
With America's entrance into the World war Horace M. Swope became an active worker for the Red Cross. During the first six months he was assistant manager of the bureau of supplies for the southwestern division and was then made active manager of the division, so continuing until July, 1918, at which time he was ordered to France where he was placed in entire charge of supplies, hospitals and canteens of the southern zone of France, with headquarters at Marseilles. There he remained
634
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
until November, 1918, when he was transferred to Paris in charge of the army and navy departments of the Red Cross. This work took him to England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, to Cologne and all along the fighting front. There were twenty-four Red Cross Hospitals in France and in addition to these the Red Cross operated twelve convalescent homes for American soldiers, containing twenty-three hundred and seventy- four beds. To assist the United States army the Red Cross operated in France eight infirmaries and thirteen dispensaries. The twenty-four hospitals admitted ninety-one thousand, three hundred and fifty-six patients and there were fifty-two thousand, eight hundred and nine cases treated by the infirmaries and one hundred and twenty-eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty-six by the dispensaries. The Red Cross operated one hundred and thirty canteens. The canteens worked right up to the front line under shell fire and in great danger. They also operated canteens on the railroad lines con- necting the French cities with the front. In all canteens there were to be found hot drinks, cigarettes, tobacco, medical supplies, doughnuts and at some, meals. To keep all of these hospitals, convalescent homes, infirmaries, dispensaries and canteens sup- plied was a gigantic task, especially when one stops to consider that the supplies had to be handled in large quantities and be at all times ready to meet emergency calls. Hundreds of things were furnished on emergency. In addition to millions of surgical dressings and other hospital supplies, such things. as tent barracks, portable laundries, shower and delousing plants, disinfecting machines, sterilizers, laboratory outfits and ice-making plants were also distributed. During a single day in the summer of 1918 when the active fighting was going on one hundred and twenty-eight emergency requisi- tions were received, each covering from one to fifty items. Another day at the start of the St. Mihiel drive fifteen carloads of surgical dressings and front line packages were shipped to the front. A request for fifteen thousand articles of various kinds, including medical supplies, food and comforts required for immediate use on the Ameri- can front was received in Paris at four p. m. The goods were assembled from three warehouses and delivered at the front at midnight. On another occasion a marine officer arrived in Paris at one a. m. with a large order that was most urgent. At three a. m. he started on the return trip to Château-Thierry with his supplies loaded in three camionettes. It would require an immense volume to give anything like a comprehensive statement of the vast amount of supplies that came under the direct charge of Mr. Swope who had about six thousand people working under his direction.
Mr. Swope is a member of the Jewish church, of the Columbian, Westwood Country, City and University Clubs and all who know him speak of him in terms of admiration and regard. His splendid service in behalf of the Red Cross can scarcely be over- estimated and won for him high encomiums from Mr. Wallace, who had entire charge of the Red Cross work in France.
J. PARK NEAL, M. D.
Dr. J. Park Neal, surgeon of Kansas City, was born in Smyth county, Virginia, January 17, 1874. His parents, Joseph M. and Mary Virginia (Umphries) Neal were natives of the Old Dominion, where the father was a farmer. In 1877 he came to Missouri and took up land in Daviess county, where he followed the occupation of farming. He was very active in public affairs, particularly in support of the schools, and for many years was a member of the school board of his district. In politics he was a stanch democrat, unswerving in his allegiance to party principles.
Dr. Neal after acquiring a common school education in Daviess county attended the Normal School at Chillicothe, Missouri, and subsequently took up the profession of teaching which he followed in the rural schools. In 1900 he became county super- intendent of schools and proved a capable official at all times. He then took up the study of medicine and entered the University Medical College of Kansas City, from which he was graduated in 1907 with the M. D. degree. He began the practice of medicine in 1906 for he had previously passed the required examination before the state board of medicine and obtained his license, so that he entered upon active pro- fessional work in Kansas City prior to his graduation. In 1908 and 1909 he was super- intendent of the City Hospital and is now serving on the staff of St. Mary's Hospital. He specializes in surgery. During the World war he was commissioned a captain but was never called upon for active duty. He served, however, as examining surgeon
DR. J. PARK NEAL
.
637
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
for the draft board of division No. 11, of Kansas City, and in every possible way did what he could to aid and support the government.
In 1902 Dr. Neal was married in Jameson, Missouri, to Miss Imogene Briggs whose parents were natives of Ohio and came to Missouri in 1867. The father followed farm- ing and became a well known and prominent representative of his section of the state.
Dr. Neal is widely known in Masonic circles. He has taken the degrees of the lodge, chapter, commandery, and also of the Mystic Shrine. Politically he is a demo- crat but has never sought nor desired office. His professional membership relations are with the Jackson County, Missouri State and Southern Medical Societies and the Medical Society of the Southwest of which he is chairman of the surgical section for 1921. The sincerity of his manner and his pleasing personality have won him many friends, and the profession recognizes him as a physician of skill and ability.
H. ALFRED BRIDGES.
H. Alfred Bridges, assistant cashier of the Boatmen's Bank of St. Louis, in which city he was born December 24, 1879, is the son of H. Alfred and Grace (Dinsmore) Bridges. The father was active secretary of the Sexton-Stubinger Stove & Range Com- pany of St. Louis, a firm that is no longer in existence. He died in Kirkwood, Missouri, February 19, 1916, while his wife, Mrs. Grace Bridges, passed away when her son Alfred was but five years of age.
The latter acquired his early education in the public schools of St. Louis and later pursued a course in a private college. Twenty-three years ago he entered the employ of the Boatmen's Bank in the correspondence department and has since worked his way up through various departments, studying everything with which he has come into contact through his various promotions. He is now assistant cashier and he also travels a part of the time in the interest of the bank through Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Mississippi.
It was on the 8th of January, 1916, that Mr. Bridges was married to Miss Agnes Lane, of Kirkwood, Missouri, where the marriage was celebrated. She is a daughter of Dennis and Anna Lane, and her father is now deceased but her mother still resides in Kirkwood. Mr. and Mrs. Bridges have one son, Alfred Lane, who is with them in their pleasant home at No. 4229 De Tonty street, which is the abode of a warm- hearted hospitality greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Mr. Bridges is a Mason, belonging to Westgate Lodge. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he seems to be well informed on the questions and issues of the day. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church and he belongs to the Missouri Histor- ical Society. He is interested in all those agencies and forces which have cultural value or which promote the intellectual and moral progress of the community, his life being ever guided by high and honorable principles. For recreation he turns to tennis and golf and also manifests an interest in all clean outdoor sports.
GEORGE ADOLPH MEYER.
George Adolph Meyer, merchant and banker, whose constantly expanding business activities have given him control of enormous commercial and financial interests and whose life record is illustrative of the possibilities for successful achievement through individual effort, was born in Burlington, Iowa, November 18, 1860. His father, Adolph Meyer, was a prominent wholesale grocer of Burlington where he died a half century ago. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Emma Knust, was born in St. Charles, Missouri, and by her marriage became the mother of three children who are yet living: George A .; Mrs. A. G. Okerle of Burlington, Iowa; and Mrs. T. C. Meyer of St. Louis.
George A. Meyer was educated in private and public schools of his native city and started out in the business world as office boy in the employ of the Bikten-Winzer Grocer Company, with which he was connected from 1876 until 1878 and then made salesman, in which capacity he served for four years. In 1882 he removed to St. Louis and through the succeeding six years was a salesman with the firm of Wulfing-Dieck- riede & Company and with Fink & Nasse. His gradually developing powers led to his
638
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
desire to enter business on his own account and he became senior partner and presi- dent of the Meyer, Schmid & Robyn Grocer Company in 1888. For six years. he was at the head of the business and in 1894 became the president of the Meyer-Schmid Grocer Company, so continuing until 1909, since which time he has been chairman of the board. Something of the development of their trade is indicated in the fact that they are now controlling a business amounting to thirty million dollars annually. They have established a chain of wholesale groceries throughout the country until their business houses in various sections now number twenty-five. Mr. Meyer was long the executive head of the business and its development and policy hear the impress of his individuality and ability. He possesses excellent powers of organization and marked initiative in formulating and executing his plans. He is now chairman of the board of this gigantic concern, nor have his efforts been confined alone to this line. He hecame the president of the International Bank of St. Louis on the 21st of October, 1911, and is now chairman of its board. He was formerly a director of the Mechanics-American National Bank, became the vice president of the Vane-Calvert Paint Company and also of the Niemeyer Drug & Paint Company. His business affairs there- fore have constantly broadened in their scope and his efforts have become a most potent factor in the commercial and financial development of the city.
In St. Louis, on the 14th of November, 1883, Mr. Meyer was married to Miss Dora Ludewig and to them have been born two daughters and two sons: Mrs. Clara Louise Riesmeyer of St. Louis; Georgia, who is the wife of C. M. Forline of St. Louis; Edwin R. and Carl G., who are identified with the Riley-Hauk Supply Company of St. Louis.
Mr. Meyer has largely turned to hunting, fishing and motoring for recreation and is fond of various forms of outdoor life. He belongs to the King's Lake Hunting and Fishing Club, also to the Liederkranz, to the Glen Echo Club and to the Union Club of which he was president in 1905 and 1906. He likewise belongs to the Missouri Athletic Association and the Midland Valley Country Club. In politics he is an independ- ent republican. He has always maintained a keen interest in public affairs and in the questions of general welfare and is a member of the Civic League. He also belongs to the Business Men's League and has served as a member of the board of the Chil- dren's Industrial Home. He is very charitable and supports entirely from his own funds the dental clinic of the Central high school, in which dental attention is given without charge to forty pupils daily. Many activities relative to the city's welfare and development have received his earnest support, while in all that he has undertaken and accomplished along business lines the city has been a direct or indirect beneficiary.
JACOB SUCKERMANN.
Jacob Suckermann, manager of the foreign department of the Mercantile Trust Company in St. Louis, brings to his present position broad experience gained in banking circles in various parts of the world. He was born in Elizabethgrad, Russia, November 16, 1880, and is a son of the late Abrahman Suckermann, also a native of Elizabeth- grad, where he engaged in business as a dealer in silk and there made his home, throughout his entire life, passing away in 1884, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife, Rebecca Budnickoff, was also a native of Russia and came to America in 1907, now making her home in California.
Jacob Suckermann, their only child, was educated in private schools of Calcutta, India, to which country he was taken by his mother in 1884. He also attended Dove- ton College of Calcutta, pursuing there his preparatory studies and later he was grad- uated from the Calcutta University in 1894. He started out in the business world in connection with banking, having charge of the English correspondence department of the Credit Lyonnais from 1897 until 1899. He then went to the Bank of China and Japan, Limited, at Hongkong, where he was in charge of inward bills until 1900. He next, became connected with the Russo Chinese Bank of Shanghai, now the Russo Asiatic Bank, in the English correspondence department and from 1905 until 1906 he was with the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank at San Francisco in the capacity of bookkeeper. In the latter year he was made assistant manager of the foreign exchange department of the American National Bank of San Francisco and continued to act in that capacity for six years, while from 1912 until 1913 he was with the Lumbermens National Bank in Portland, Oregon, now the United States National Bank, as manager of the foreign
639
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
department. Through the succeeding three years he filled the position of assistant manager of the foreign exchange department with the Crocker National Bank of San Francisco and then went to the Atlantic seaboard to become manager of the foreign department of Lee Higginson & Company of Boston, there continuing for two years. In 1918 he was made manager of the foreign department of the First National Bank of Boston and in 1919 came to St. Louis as manager of the foreign department of the Mercantile Trust Company and has here continued to the present time. His business experience has indeed been wide and varied and his thorough, practical training has splendidly qualified him for the onerous duties that devolve upon him in his present connection.
Mr. Suckermann is a republican in his political views and fraternally is con- nected with Oakland Lodge, No. 188, A. F. & A. M .; and he is a fourteenth degree Scottish Rite Mason. He also belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and is keenly interested in all those forces which have to do with the city's upbuilding and improve- ment that find their root in the progressiveness and enterprise of the members of that organization.
REV. JOSEPH CRUSE.
Rev. Joseph Cruse, pastor of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord at No. 5811 Harvey avenue in North St. Louis, was born in St. Charles county, Missouri, March 20, 1872, a son of John and Josephine (Jarboe) Cruse. The father was also a native of St. Charles county, his parents being among the earliest of the pioneer families of that section of the state, arriving in Missouri early in the nineteenth century from Westphalia, one of the Rhine provinces of Germany. The mother of Joseph Cruse was a native of Kentucky, her parents removing to that state from Ireland, the emigrant ancestor having come to the new world from France in early colonial days. This was at the same period that chronicled the arrival of Lord Baltimore at the beginning of the settlement of Maryland.
Joseph Cruse was reared on the home farm with the usual experiences of the farm bred boy. He pursued his early education in the parish schools and afterward entered St. Francis Seminary at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he mastered the classical course. He then studied theology and philosophy at the North American College in Rome and in that city was ordained to the priesthood on the 4th of June, 1898, Cardinal Cassetta officiating.
Soon afterward Mr. Cruse returned to the United States and was appointed assist- ant at Holy Rosary church where he labored for four years. Following this he was for a short time chaplain of St. Mary's Orphan Asylum and was then sent as assistant to Father James J. McCabe, pastor of Sacred Heart church. His labors there covered a period of four years and later he was appointed pastor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima at Silver Lake, Missouri, there remaining for four and a half years. In Novem- ber, 1911, he was given his present charge and has since presided over the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord. The parish numbers two hundred and fifty families and there are enrolled two hundred and twenty-five pupils in the school, which was estab lished by Father Cruse in 1914.
GUY N. HITCHCOCK.
Guy N. Hitchcock, who in 1919 became one of the vice presidents of the National Bank of Commerce of St. Louis, his native city, was born December 22, 1876, his parents being Charles O. and Anna V. (Newcomer.) Hitchcock, both representatives of southern families. The mother is a native of Maryland. The father was engaged in the planta- tion supply business in St. Louis for many years and at the time of the Civil war espoused the cause of his loved southland, doing active duty for the Confederacy.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.