USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 1 > Part 5
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Paul Jones
Paul Jones
T HE possibility for contributing to the welfare and improvement of a city through real estate operations has been recognized by Paul Jones from the outset of his career in this field of business and he takes a justifiable pride in putting upon the market some of the most attractive residence subdivisions of St. Louis. His labors have indeed been a potent clement in adding to the beauty of St. Louis and the Paul Jones Realty Company has long figured prominently in the business cireles of Missouri's metropolis. Mr. Jones was born in Huntingdon, Carroll county, Tennessee, January 31, 1861. His father, Le Grand Michaux Jones, was a distinguished lawyer of Western Tennessee and a soldier of the Mexican war who served as sergeant major under Colonel William T. Haskell. His mother's maiden name was Cassandra Harris Woods. She was a great-granddaughter of James Dinwiddie, a nephew of Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia. In the paternal line Mr. Jones is of Welsh and French descent, and the Le Grand and Michaux families were French Huguenots who were driven to this country by the fierce persecution during the reign of Louis XIV. His maternal ancestors were Scotch and Irish. Both lines were represented in the Colonial army during the Revolu- tionary war.
Paul Jones attended the public schools of his native city and afterward became a student in the Peabody high school of Trenton, Tennessee. Later he was for two years a student in the Southwestern Baptist University at Jackson, Tennessee, and then entered upon the study of law in the office of his father at Trenton. At the age of twenty-three years he became clerk and master of the chancery court of the ninth judicial district of Tennessee and served in that capacity most acceptably for several years. In October, 1887, he came to St. Louis, where he entered the law office of his brother, Silas B. Jones, a leading member of the bar of this city. Ill health forced Paul Jones to abandon profes- sional work after a year and a half and for some time thereafter he gave his attention to the fire insurance business. In September, 1890, however, he entered the real estate field, becoming senior member of the firm of Paul Jones & Com- pany, operations being carried on under that firm name until 1911, when the business was incorporated as the Paul Jones Realty Company. A contemporary writer has said: "Mr. Jones has aided very largely in the material development of the business centers of the city and also in the developing of the beautiful residence districts of St. Louis. Through his efforts the westward trend was started on Washington avenue. He negotiated the purchases for the three great commercial structures situated on the southeast, northeast and northwest corners of Twelfth street and Washington avenue. One particular residence subdivision which was exclusively handled and developed by Mr. Jones was
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Hortense Place, known as ' the gem of the city.' Other large and important real estate deals have been managed by him, his negotiations resulting in various realty transfers." Among the more recent subdivisions promoted by him was the Shaw tract, resulting in a million dollar sale. He has also made extensive sales in farm lands in Missouri and Arkansas and he has recently developed the Glen Echo Park, a new subdivision in St. Louis county. There are few men more thoroughly informed concerning property values in the city and state than Mr. Jones and in all that he has undertaken he has been actuated by a most progressive spirit that has brought splendid results in the development and adornment of the city as well as in the improvement of his individual fortunes.
On the 15th of April, 1895, in Chicago, was celebrated the marriage of Paul Jones and Margaret M. Humble, daughter of the late William Pickering Humble. They have four children: Paul, Jr., Margaret Cassandra, Virginia Lee and William Pickering. Paul Jones, Jr., married Miss Helen Moore Watts, daughter of Frank O. Watts, president of the First National Bank of St. Louis. The daughter, Margaret Cassandra, was married April 15, 1919, to Sherman Leland Whipple, Jr., son of Sherman L. Whipple, a very prominent and brilliant lawyer of Boston.
Mr. Jones is an earnest and active member of the Baptist church, taking a leading and helpful part in the various phases of the church work. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party where national issues and questions are involved, but at local elections he casts an independent ballot. He finds much of his recreation in the game of golf and is a member of the Glen Echo Country Club. He was director of the Glen Echo Country Club for many years. He has never made the attainment of wealth the sole end and aim of his life but has found time for cooperation in many of those forces which make for the uplift of the individual and the benefit of mankind. His life is actuated by a broad humanitarianism, based upon a belief in the brotherhood of mankind and the obligations thereby imposed.
He was one of the moving spirits in the "Men and Religion Movement" that had so much to do with the bringing together of the various religious denom- inations of the country.
J.J. Paradine,
James T. Caradine
AMES T. CARADINE, president of the Caradine Harvest Hat Company and one of the conspicuous factors in making St. Louis an important industrial and commercial center, was born in Sherman, Texas, September 22, 1876, a son of James N. and Virginia C. (MeDougal) Caradine, both of whom were natives of Mississippi. The father, James N., as a youth enlisted in the Confederate army and served throughout the period of the Civil war. Following the elose of hostilities he was united in marriage to Miss MeDougal and soon thereafter removed to Sherman, Texas, where both he and his wife resided up to the time of their deaths. J
James T. Caradine was reared and educated in the town of his birth. Later he became associated with the S. G. Davis Hat Company of Dallas, Texas, with which he was identified for several years. About 1909 he became connected with the harvest hat business and in 1910 transferred his activities to St. Louis and in the intervening ten years has made this city the largest harvest hat center in the world. In fact his activities have been a potent element in making St. Louis known as one of the great industrial and commercial centers of the United States. As an illustration of the magnitude to which the business has been developed by Mr. Caradine it may be stated that in 1917 he brought to St. Louis one shipment of a solid train load of hat bodies from Mexico and the development of this industry has made the St. Louis custom house the largest port of entry of harvest hats in the United States. There is not a crossroads country store nor city establishment in the entire country that is not visited by a St. Louis harvest hat salesman and through the progressive methods of those handling the line the business has grown to mammoth proportions. In addition to the hat business Mr. Caradine is interested in various business enterprises in St. Louis and elsewhere, including large holdings of mining properties in Nevada.
On the 25th of February, 1903, Mr. Caradine was married to Miss Florence Evans, of Greenville, Texas, a daughter of Mark L. Evans, now deceased, who was one of the leading merchants and foremost business men of northern Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Caradine are the parents of two daughters: Margaret E., who is attending Miss Porter's School at Farmington, Connecticut ; and Jane Katherine, now attending the Mary Institute of St. Louis. The Caradine home is at No. 30 Portland płace.
Mr. Caradine is a member of the Bellerive Country Club, the Noonday Club and the Missouri Athletic Club and is also a Consistory Mason, belong- ing to Tusean Lodge, No. 360, A. F. & A. M .; to Missouri Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R .; and Moolah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His successful accom-
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plishments in business have brought his name prominently before the public, for he has created one of the seven industries of St. Louis which lead the world in their particular line and which has made the name of Caradine synonymous with harvest hats in every part of the United States.'
Ars. John Crigg Moss
RS. JOHN TRIGG MOSS, prominently known for her broad M humanitarian work and her connection with many agencies for the uplift and benefit of the individual and of the com- munity, was born in St. Louis, December 24, 1876, bearing the maiden name of Arline B. Nichols. Her father, E. P. Nichols, is now living in St. Louis and was formerly connected with the Missouri Pacific Railroad, but is now living retired. Hle comes of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He wedded Belle Arline Matlack, whose father, Earl Matlack, was one of the early lumbermen of St. Louis. Also in the maternal line Mrs. Moss is descended from Timothy Matlack, who was clerk of that important gathering which framed the Declaration of Independence, and due to his excellent penmanship he was given the task of writing that important document. It is also through the maternal line that Mrs. Moss is descended from Daniel Heath, who was with the New York troops in the Revolu- tionary war, being a boy of but seventeen years of age when he enlisted and he won the rank of sergeant. He also served in the War of 1812 with the forces from Indiana and again was made sergeant.
Mrs. Moss was educated in the schools of St. Louis and specialized in work for the deaf. For six years she taught in the St. Louis Day School for the Deaf and her keen sympathy for this class of the unfortunate, combined with her ability as an educator, made her most successful in her work. F. Louis Soldan, at that time superintendent of schools, complementing her upon the results of her efforts, stated she was a born teacher of the deaf and predicted she would again take up the work in the interests of the afflicted. She has since then carried on the work for the deaf as a teacher in her own private studio, also specializing in corrective speech, in which she has been extremely successful. While Mrs. Moss has figured very prominently in connection with the Daughters of the American Revolution, being state regent thereof, she feels that the most important activity of her life has been in teaching the deaf, thus endeavoring to make up to them for one of their lost senses and bringing to them the riches of intellectual understanding.
In June, 1901, Arline B. Nichols became the wife of John Trigg Moss, who is connected with an eastern woolen mills as representative in southern territory. He is a member of the Trigg Moss family of Kentucky. The marriage was celebrated in St. Louis and Mrs. Moss has become the mother of two sons, John Trigg, Jr., who was born March 7, 1903; and Harry Nichols, born September 17, 1912. While Mrs. Moss has been much in public life her interest centers in her home, where she is an ideal wife and mother. Nevertheless she has found time for important work for her fellowmen. She was the organizer of a parlia- mentary elub called the St. Louis Daughters of the American Revolution
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Parliamentary Club. She also acts as parliamentarian for several large organi- zations of St. Louis. She has been most prominent in the Daughters of the American Revolution and was elected state regent, on which occasion her marked characteristics were brought out in the nomination speech by Mrs. Samuel MeKnight Green, who said: "Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a chubby little girl took the part of Columbia in a patriotic celebration. The fires of patriotism were then and there kindled in her heart and have burned steadily ever since, never to be quenched, but grow brighter and brighter, serving as a beam to keep agleam the light of liberty. Way back in New York and Pennsyl- vania in the early days of our country, before we were a nation, her pioneer ancestors were making the way smooth for those who followed and helping to lay the foundations of our glorious republic. Indeed Colonel Timothy Matlack, one of her ancestors, was a member of the continental congress and he it was who penned the Declaration of Independence-and this child, now grown to noble womanhood, Mrs. John Trigg Moss, is a splendid exponent of the inherit- ance bequeathed to her by these illustrious forebears. She is a woman of dauntless courage, of clear perceptions, and high principles. In her gracious womanhood she has made those who know her best love her best, as evidenced in the devoted love and loyalty of her chapter, the Cornelia Green, who set aside their by-laws to retain her as regent for another year after her term of two years had expired; one of her members said, 'She is unsurpassed as a regent.' She has also served on state and national committees with honor, attended our state and national conference regularly for the past six years, so she is thoroughly in touch with all the various interests of our organization. More than this, she brought honor to our loved state in her work as state director, Missouri, C. A. R. (Children of the American Revolution), for she has done what no one else has done-put the name of Missouri on the honor roll for the first time in the history of the C. A. R. work in Missouri. She is a good parliamentarian, organized the St. Louis D. A. R. Parliamentary Club and served as parliamentarian at the last two state conferences. The motto of our society comes to me-'Home and Country'-home first, for without the ideal home we can never have the ideal country; and my candidate is an ideal home maker. Love and order reign supreme in her home and she is in truth the heart of the household; but more than this she is a benefactor to the world in her chosen work of teaching
the deaf. Her success and interest in the work has been so marked as to win for her the name of 'The Angel of the Deaf,' so the world is better for her having lived. You will find her a woman of indomitable energy; add to this energy, heart and a good voice and we have every requisite for a splendid presiding officer. I therefore present for your consideration a gracious, womanly woman, one whose love of justice is only equaled by her devotion to the objects of our society; by the ambition to increase its usefulness. Her sympathetic nature, her perfect poise, her generous consideration for the opinions of others, these splendid qualities fit her in an eminent degree to be our leader in our beloved society. I have the great honor to place in nomination, for state regent, Mrs. John Trigg Moss."
Mrs. Moss easily won the election and did most important work in connection with the organization, as its head. She was very active in Red Cross work during the World war and was one of the prominent Four-Minute speakers.
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As regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution she was instrumental in establishing a fund for the aid of incapacitated soldiers that they might thus be eared for until able to earn their own way. She pledged the cooperation of the organization in a fund of five thousand dollars to be loaned to disabled soldiers in connection with the federal board of vocational education that soldiers might thus bridge over the time until they should receive war risk insurance. This money was loaned without interest to the discharged soldiers and the fund of five thousand dollars was revolved until they loaned over fourteen thousand dollars without interest, permitting the borrower to return the sum in small payments as his financial condition permitted. Nor was this the only phase of active aid which the Daughters of the American Revolution, under the leader- ship of Mrs. Moss, extended to the World war heroes, and under her guidance great good has been accomplished through this agency, while in many other ways her life has been the expression of a broad and helpful humanitarianism that is constantly seeking to ameliorate hard conditions of life for the unfortunate.
At the Thirtieth Annual Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, which has just taken place in Washington, D. C., there were seven vice presidents general elected for a term of three years and one elected for a term of one year. A registrar general was also elected. Missouri ean record with pride the fact that their candidate for vice president general, Mrs. John Trigg Moss, retiring state regent, had the honor of receiving the greatest number of votes cast for any candidate. The number of votes cast was one thousand and fifty-six and Mrs. Moss received nine hundred and seventy-four, while the registrar general, Miss Strider of the District of Columbia, who had no opponent, received only nine hundred and twenty-nine votes. Mrs. Moss has certainly proven her popularity, which was attested to very strongly the night she was nominated by Mrs. Jasper Blackburn of Webster Groves, Missouri, for when the states arose to offer their "seconds," they came so thick and so fast that the president general, Mrs. George Maynard Minor, said: "Seconded by the whole United States."
Thomas Keith Skinker
N'a history of the representative members of the legal profession in St. Louis it is imperative that mention be made of Thomas Keith Skinker, owing to the prominence which he has attained as a most able member of the bar. He is also widely known as a citizen of progressive spirit who in various ways has con- tributed to the upbuilding and development of city and state. A son of Thomas and Jane (Neilson) Skinker, who came from Virginia to Missouri and settled in St. Louis in 1838, he was born in this city on the 9th of June, 1845. He pursued his studies in local sebools until prepared for entranee into Washington University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1863, winning the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later he took up the study of law in the University of Virginia under the celebrated professor, John B. Minor, and in 1867 was admitted to the Missouri bar, while in 1876 he was licensed to practice before the supreme court of the United States.
Blessed with good health and encouraged by a large clientele, Mr. Skinker has practiced his profession with marked success and has gained wide reputation as an expert in his knowledge of the law of county and municipal bonds. From 1877 until 1884, in addition to earing for his private practice, he served as official reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of Missouri and during that time prepared and published seventeen volumes of these decisions.
His activity has also covered a still broader range, for in 1893 be built the first. electrie railway in St. Louis county, thus meeting a demand for development in publie utilities. He has always taken an active interest in progress and public improvement in both the city and county of St. Louis and in 1905 he was ap- pointed by Governor Joseph W. Folk one of the democratic members of the board of election commissioners of the city of St. Louis. In the course of a four years' term he did much to check the fraudulent manipulation which had long disgraced elections in St. Louis.
In 1869 Mr. Skinker was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Rives, a daughter of Alexander Rives, of Albemarle county, Virginia, who was judge of the court of appeals and afterward of the United States district court in that state. Two sons and three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Skinker. The sons were: Charles R., for some years assistant city counselor of the city of St. Louis; and Alexander R., who became captain of the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth United States Infantry and was killed in the battle of the Argonne. He was awarded posthumously the congressional medal of honor for bravery and in- trepidity above and beyond the call of duty. The daughters, Misses Isabel N. and Bertha R. Skinker and Mrs. Claude L. Matthews during the World war became distinguished in Red Cross and other war work.
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Thomas Keith Skinker
A resident of the city and county of St. Louis throughout his entire life, Mr. Skinker belongs to one of the old and honored families whose name has ever been a synonym for progressive citizenship in all that the term implies, standing not only for material progress in business and professional lines, but also for aesthetic, moral and intellectual development.
Alexander P. Skinken
Captain Alexander Ribes Skinker
APTAIN ALEXANDER RIVES SKINKER, son of Thomas C Keith and Bertha (Rives) Skinker, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, October 13, 1883. Hle was educated at Smith Acad- emy and Washington University, both of St. Louis, and was graduated from the latter institution in June, 1905, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He obtained a position with the Long Distance Bell Telephone Company, in whose service he remained for six years. In 1903 Alexander R. Skinker enlisted in Battery A, St. Louis Light Artillery. After five years' service with this company he obtained a discharge, having left the city in the interests of the telephone company. In the winter of 1916 he heard an address by the colonel of the First Missouri Infantry National Guards, in which the speaker, referring to the prospects of war with Mexico or Germany or both, pointed out the lack of officers and strongly urged that all young men who had any military training should join in forming an Officers' Training Corps. For this purpose he offered the use of the First. Regiment Armory, with experienced officers to do the training. Aleck Skinker and half a dozen others immediately accepted this offer and started a training corps. By the end of May this corps numbered two hundred and twenty-five, of whom two hundred subsequently went into the service. Captain Carmack of Company I, First Missouri, needed lieutenants for his company and selected Aleck Skinker and one other, whom he had elected to lieutenancies. Owing to business complications, Captain Skinker hesitated until the president's call for the National Guard on the 16th of June, 1916. He then promptly accepted and went as second lieutenant of Company I to the Mexican border. Returning, the regiment was mustered out on the 26th of September. On the 16th of December, 1916, he beeame first lieutenant and on the 29th of July, 1917, was promoted to the captaincy of the company. On the 26th of March, 1917, the regiment was again called out and for several months performed guard duty, protecting against apprehended attacks by German sympathizers the St. Louis city water works, the bridges over the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the lead works and smelters at Flat River and Bonne Terre, Missouri, and several muni- tion works in and near St. Louis.
On the 11th of August, 1917, Captain Skinker was married in St. Louis to Miss Caroline French Rulon-Miller, of Philadelphia. Later his regiment was sent to Camp Doniphan at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where it was consolidated with the Fifth Missouri, the two forming the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth United States infantry. Captain Skinker was retained as captain of Company I. While the regiment was at this eamp a school was opened for the instruction of non- commissioned officers and privates who wished to get commissions. Candidates were admitted on the selection and recommendation of their company com-
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Captain Alerander Rives Skinker
manders and Captain Skinker recommended five of his men. The school opened with about four hundred students and of these about one hundred withdrew. The other three hundred stood the examinations and seventy-five of them passed and were commissioned, among whom were the five from Company I. Thus this single company furnished one-fifteenth of the winners of the entire Thirty- fifth Division of twenty-six thousand men. Nothing could more plainly attest the high quality of the men of this company, nor the good judgment of the eom- mander who seleeted them.
Toward the end of April, 1918, this regiment left Camp Doniphan for Camp Mills, New York, where it remained for a week and on the 3d of May started across. After a voyage of sixteen days it reached England, where it went to a rest camp for two days, then erossed to France and was assigned to a position in the Vosges mountains. Captain Skinker was for a time detached and sent to Pont Remy as liaison officer with the School of Musketry of the British Fifth Army. While there he wrote that the commander of the eamp had invited him to his mess and he was associated with a number of British officers whom he described as splendid fellows. Captain Parry of the Manchester regiment, on the other hand, wrote that Captain Skinker was a fine soldier, a thorough sports- man and a good comrade and told of a testimonial given him by the British officers at parting. Nominally a liaison officer, his mission to the British camp was of a much higher kind than that term ordinarily imports. A large number of junior officers of the American army had been sent to this school. Mutual antagonism arose between them and the British officers. They simply did not like each other; and besides there were differences in methods that were irri- tating. The situation beeame so unpleasant that the American generals thought it wise to send one of the junior officers to pour oil on the troubled waters and Captain Skinker was the man seleeted for this work-a most delieate task in which he was extremely successful. A little older than most of the junior officers of both armies, he was still young enough to make it easy for him to win their goodwill; but to become a reconciler it took taet, patience, good temper, good judgment and ready wit, and above all he had to be fair and honest and a thor- ough gentleman. Captain Skinker possessed all of these qualifieations and be- yond doubt was selected by his superior officers because he was known to have them. He wrote home that he was having an easy time-only six hours' work per day-but rumor had come that his regiment had been engaged and he was disturbed by the thought that he was absent the first time his men eame under fire. The rumor turned out to be unfounded. On the 29th of July, 1918, Cap- tain Skinker rejoined his regiment to his great satisfaction and that of the men as well, as many of them attested. Shortly after he was offered a leave of absence to attend a school of instruction in the duties of the general staff, but deelined, preferring to remain with his men. The One Hundred and Thirty-eighth was at St. Mihiel, but was held in reserve and took no part in the battle. Thence the regiment was transferred to Bar-le-due, marehing principally by night through wooded country to avoid enemy airplanes. This regiment belonged to the Thirty-fifth Division and was assigned to the duty of leading the attack for that division in the battle of the Argonne. The attack began on the 26th of Septem- ber. Companies I and M were in front. On the first day of the battle at a dan- gerous place, Captain Skinker, taking two men and ordering the rest to keep
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