USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 1 > Part 8
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William Henry Grabe attained his early education in St. Louis, having been brought to this city by his parents when but two years of age. He also received instructions from his father, who was a man of scholarly attainment, and he likewise attended the Clinton and Peabody public schools. When a youth of fourteen he started out upon his business career and was first em- ployed as a cash boy in the dry goods store of Jacob Lowenstein, at the old French market. Later he entered the employ of a elothing merchant in the same block and when he was a youth of sixteen he became general office and laboratory assistant to Dr. J. H. MeLean, in the manufacture of proprietary medicines. He became familiar with all the details of this business, both in the chemical combinations and in the financial management, and afterward went on the road as traveling salesman covering the states of Missouri, Illi- nois, Indiana, Iowa and forty-eight of the eighty-eight counties in Ohio. On attaining his majority he left the service of Dr. McLean and turned his atten- tion to the accounting business in St. Louis, and afterward was with the Home Brewing Company for five years as cashier and notary. He next became con- neeted with the famous restaurant of Tony Faust, and until 1907 had general charge of the financial and office department of that business. In 1907 the Glaney & Watson Hotel Company engaged him to open its books and insti- tute its accounting system. He performed the work so eapably that he was offered a permanent position which he accepted. In 1910 he was elected see- retary of the company and in 1911 was also elected to the treasurership, and is now serving in the dual position. In the meantime, from 1914 until 1918, he attended the Benton College of Law from which he was graduated in the
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William Denry Grabe
latter year with the degree of LL.B., and his knowledge of law has been of marked benefit to him in his business affairs. Ile passed the state bar exami- nation in June, 1918, and was admitted to practice in July of that year but has not engaged actively in general practice. However, his opinions are much sought in consultations and his legal attainments are of great value to the company, which is now enjoying a high degree of prosperity.
The Marquette Hotel, which was built and is owned by his company, was completed in 1907 and contains four hundred rooms, elegant in their equip- ment. No hotel has been more successful in the United States for every effort has been put forth to please the patrons and supply them with all comforts. His associate, T. H. Glaney, has the management of the hotel and has spent his entire life in this line of business, working his way up from the position of bell boy until he is not only prominent as the owner of a fine hotel but has also been honored with the presideney of the Hotel Men's Association.
On the 14th of October, 1892, Mr. Grabe was married to Miss Anna Kath- erine IIerzog, a daughter of Adam Herzog, who for many years was the owner of a country resort on Gravois Road, which was much patronized in those days by Ulysses S. Grant, afterwards president of the United States. Following her father's death her mother married John Stumborg, a well known political leader, whose warm friendship with General Grant continued throughout their lives.
Mr. Grabe in his younger years was a great boxer, a famous skater and an expert ball player and still keeps up his interest in these and other clean and manly outdoor interests and sports. He is a lover of music and of good books, and finds much recreation in gardening and eultivation of flowers. He is noted for the vegetables and garden products which he raises and he is justly proud of his achievements in this line. He is also a lover of thoroughbred dogs and is the owner of Ted, a snow white bull terrier of the finest breed. He belongs to the St. Louis Bar Association and also to the Chamber of Commerce, and his politieal allegiance is given to the democratic party. For many years he was a member of the Presbyterian church, but he and his wife are now strongly inclined to the Christian Science church. Starting out to earn his own living when a lad of fourteen years he has steadily worked his way upward and by the wise utilization of his time and opportunities he has become one of the leading hotel men of St. Louis, as his labors have been crowned with gratifying success. Mr. Grabe's motto through life has been, "The man who is loyal to his employer, works hard and saves a portion of his earnings, is seldom in want or out of a job."
Frank Lewis Rewoman
F
RANK LEWIS NEWMAN, proprietor of the finest motion pie- ture theatre in Missouri, known as the Newman theatre of Kansas City, was born in Newark, New Jersey, January 2, 1884, his parents being Nathan and Mollie Newman, the for- mer a clothing manufacturer of St. Louis for many years. In his later life, however, he retired from business and his last days were spent in San Francisco.
Frank L. Newman of this review pursued his education in the publie schools of Cairo, Illinois, and of St. Louis, Missouri, and after his textbooks were put aside engaged in the manufacture of ladies' underwear to the age of twenty-two years in St. Louis. lle then became interested in the moving picture business, in which he was engaged in St. Louis from 1907 until 1913. In the latter year he removed to Kansas City and has recently opened the finest motion picture theatre in Missouri, known as the Newman theatre. This was completed and opened for business on the 5th of June, 1919. He has a splendid orchestra num- bering thirty-five musicians and he also features grand opera singers from time to time.
In 1903 Mr. Newman was married to Miss Fannie Bierman and to them have been born two children: Manuel F. Newman, sixteen years of age; and Viola V., thirteen years of age. Mr. Newman is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and he also belongs to the Kansas City Athletic Club, the Progress Club, the Cooperative Association, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Masonie fraternity. In the last named he has taken high rank and has become a member of Ararat Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. The major part of his attention, however, is concentrated upon his business affairs and as the result of his elose application, able management and progressive spirit he is today the owner of three of the finest picture houses in the west-the New Royal, the New Twelfth Street and the Newman theatres, all of which are proving profitable investments, bringing to him a most gratifying financial return.
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Aug. BanTry C
Auguste Berthold Eming
A
I'GUSTE BERTIIOLD EWING was born in St. Louis, April 6. 1839. He died at Casco, on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, on the 10th of July, 1910, after a long residence in St. Louis. during which time he had figured prominently in business and social circle -. In the later years of his life he was retired. the activity of his former years having brought to him the meas- ure of success that enabled him to put aside business cares.
At the time of his birth St. Louis was largely a French city. Mr. Ewing was of Scotch-Irish descent on his father's side. The family was originally founded in Scotland, whence representatives of the name went to Ireland and thence to America from Londonderry, first settling in Sisson county. Mary- land, in 1725. Some of the family remained in that state. while others went 10 Pennsylvania. Ilis grandfather. Nathaniel Ewing. moved from Pennsyl- vania to Montelair, near Vincennes. Indiana. in 1-07. where William L. Ewing. the father of A. B. Ewing. was born in 1809. He was only abont ten or eleven years of age when he became a resident of St. Louis, making his home with his brother-in-law, William Carr Lane, the first mayor of the city. He afterward became connected with the wholesale grocery and commission business and was a leading figure in the commercial upbuilding and progress of the city through the middle portion of the nineteenth century. He died at St. Louis on the 22d of October, 1873. He married Claire Berthold on the 1st of February, 1838, she being a daughter of Bartholomew Berthold. born in 1780 near Trent in the Italian Tyrol and Pelagie Chouteau Berthold, the latter a daughter of Pierre Chouteau, one of the founders of the eity of St. Louis. Claire ( Berthold Ewing died in 1900. To William L. Ewing and his wife were born eleven children. of whom Angu-te Berthold was the eldest and the last of their surviving sons. The second son of the family was William L. Ewing, mayor of St. Louis from 1 -- 1 until 18-5. after which he returned to the old family homestead at Montelair, where he died in 1905. The third son of the family was Frederick B., who died in Feb- ruary, 1897.
Auguste B. Ewing completed his education in the St. Louis University. pursuing his studies to the year 1857. when he became connected with his father's business and was thus engaged until 1876. He and his brother. Wil- liam L., sueceeded to the business upon their father's death and were prom- inent wholesale grocers and commission merchants until they closed out the business, at which time Auguste B. Ewing retired from active association with mercantile interests. His name was ever a synonym for integrity and enter- prise in commercial affairs and he was ever actuated by a progressive spirit
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Auguste Berthold Ewing
in all that he undertook. In 1883 his brother, who was then mayor of the city, appointed him commissioner of supplies for St. Louis and he acted in that capacity throughout the remainder of his brother's mayoralty administra- tion. He was one of the original subscribers to the stock of the Granite Moun- tain Mining Company and was the last survivor of them, which included many of the most distinguished citizens here. Mr. Ewing became connected with a number of financial and commercial concerns and of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company was one of the directors. He also made investment in prop- erty in St. Louis and was the owner of a beautiful home at No. 2740 Locust street. In all his investments and business affairs he displayed notably sound judgment and enterprise, readily discriminating between the essential and the non-essential, so that desired results were certain.
Mr. Ewing was married on the 8th of September, 1869, in St. Louis, to Mary Scott MeCausland, born in St. Louis, August 7, 1847, a daughter of Mark MeCausland, who was born in 1801 at Hamiltonbawn Parish of Mul- labrach, County of Armagh, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1829, and Sarah Scott Branham, daughter of Harbin and Eleanor (Scott) Bran- ham, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. To them were born eight children, seven of whom are now living: Mark, unmarried; Nathaniel W., who married Marian Rumsey, of St. Louis; Auguste B., who married Lily Day of St. Panl, Minne- sota ; Marie, who married Ira E. Wight, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Claire, who married Samuel Plant, of St. Louis; Frederick B., who married Mary Willis, of Baltimore; and Charles G., unmarried. Mrs. Ewing, the wife and mother, died at Casco, on Lake Minnetonka, August 20, 1897.
In his political views Mr. Ewing was a stalwart democrat from the time that he cast his first vote for President Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. He be- longed to the Roman Catholic church and was a member of a number of the leading clubs of the city, including the St. Louis, Noonday, Racquet and Kin- loch Country Clubs. He was ever a man of modest demeanor, free from ostentation and display, and he judged men by worth, not by wealth. Gen- uine regret was felt at his death. He had been a lifetime resident of St. Louis, so that his history was familiar to his fellow townsmen, and all who knew him bore testimony to his splendid character and his fidelity to principle.
Theodore Gerard Meier
HIEODORE GERARD MEIER, whose identification with the business development of St. Louis was of a most important T character, deserved the honor of having established the first cotton mill in the city and of being a pioneer shipper of to- baceo and cotton to Europe. Ile was born in Bremen, Ger- many, March 17, 1836, a son of Adolphus and Rebecca ( Rust) Meier. He was only a year old, however, when brought by his parents to the new world, the family home being established in St. Louis. Here he pursued his education which he completed in the St. Louis Univer- sity. Ile started out in the business world as a clerk in the employ of the firm of Adolphus Meier & Company in 1852 and afterward went to Boston where he remained for two years in the employ of Butler, Keith & IIill. In 1856 he returned to St. Louis and three years later, or in 1859, became a part- ner in the house of Adolphus Meier & Company, in which he had started out as a clerk. lle was thus associated with one of the oldest established merean- tile enterprises of the city for a quarter of a century and contributed much to its success through his capable management, sound judgment and keen busi- ness discrimination. He also became the treasurer of the IIeine Safety Boiler Company on the 1st of January, 1885, and so continued until his demise. He was constantly studying the business conditions with a view to enlarging his activities and his labors were always of a character that contributed to the general prosperity and upbuilding of the city as well as to the promotion of his own fortunes. Ile put in the first cotton mill at St. Louis and was among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of shipping tobacco and cotton to Eu- rope. He became a dominant figure in business eireles in the city and his enterprise constituted an example which others followed.
Mr. Meier was married to Miss Harriett Basham, a representative of a prominent family of Louisville, Kentucky. They became the parents of three children, Adolphus, Clara Cecelia and Charles Basham, all now deceased. The death of Mr. Meier occurred August 4, 1914, when he was seventy-eight years of age. His long life was one of usefulness leading to success, for he never stopped short of the accomplishment of his purpose. He ever recognized the fact that when one avenue of opportunity seemed closed he could carve out other paths whereby to reach the desired goal. nor was his course ever strewn with the wreck of other men's failures. Ile builded along constructive lines and won both prosperity and an untarnished name.
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Frank Heater-
Frank Mesker
RANK MESKER, with a readiness to meet and a fixed pur- F pose to overcome difficulty, entered the field of structural iron and sheet metal work and in that connection has won notable success where many others have met failure. llis advancement has been due to his brother, Bernard T. Mesker, and to his own industry and perseverance and to a calm, elear judgment which enables him properly to estimate the present and forecast the future. Born in Evansville, Indiana, on the 8th of January, 1861, he is a son of John B. and Elizabeth (Nurry) Mesker, both of whom were of Ilolland deseent. In faet the father was born in Holland and with a sister came from that country to America in the early '30s when ten years of age, settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. While there residing he engaged in the hardware and metal business and also operated a trading boat between Cincinnati and New Orleans. He afterward removed to Evansville, Indiana, where he continued in the same line of business and he ereeted the first big brick business building in Evansville. There he passed away in 1906. ITis wife, a native of Cineinnati, was a woman beloved by all who knew her because of her noble qualities as wife, mother and friend.
In his youthful days Frank Mesker attended a private school in Evans- ville, Indiana, and afterward continued his studies in a commercial college of that eity, from which he was graduated in 1876. Ile came to St. Louis in 1877 and started in business in 1879 with his brother, Bernard T., in a small way in structural iron and sheet metal work at Nos. 1117, 1119 and 1121 Olive street. He had gained some practical knowledge of the business during his boyhood days in connection with his father's business interests. Close appli- eation, indefatigable enterprise and thorough reliability characterized the firm of Mesker Brothers from the beginning and their increasing patronage later necessitated their removal to their present location at Sixth, Poplar and Seventh streets, where their business has further developed until it has become one of the largest of the kind in the country. Much of their work of late years has been for the United States government and during the World war they received contracts for ranges and bread bakers which enabled the gov- ernment to feed six million men per day. Their work in this connection was of the greatest possible value to the cause of the allies. Their products today go into every state in the Union and they also make large shipments to Can- ada and to Honolulu. Aside from the business of the firm Frank Mesker is vice president and treasurer of the Mesker Brothers Realty & Investment Company. He is uniformly courteous and fair in all of his business relations and his business integrity stands as an unquestioned fact in his career. Ile
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Frank Desker
possesses initiative and inventive genius along mechanical lines in connection with his manufacturing interests and he has that quality and faculty much prized in the business world.
In 1903, in St. Louis, Mr. Mesker was married to Miss Pauline Gehner, daughter of the late August Gehner, one of the prominent bankers and real estate dealers of this city who was born in Hanover, Germany, September 18, 1846, a son of Conrad and Mary ( Hehman) Gehner. He attended school in his native land and also the German Institute of St. Louis from the time of his arrival in this city in 1859 until 1862, when he joined the Union army as a member of Company L, First Missouri Light Artillery, serving until mustered out in July, 1865. Ile was then a draughtsman in the office of the surveyor general at St. Louis until 1868 and through the succeeding three years was a clerk in an abstract office. In 1871 he opened an abstract office on his own account and conducted it until it was absorbed by the Guaranty Title & Trust Company, of which he was president until November, 1904. Ile then resigned and organized the Gehner Realty & Investment Company, of which he became president, conducting a general real estate and financial business. He was also president of the German American Bank, became the third vice president of the Planters Hotel Company and a director of the Guaranty Title & Trust Company and the German Fire Insurance Com- pany. He proudly wears the little bronze button that proclaims him a mem- ber of Frank P. Blair Post, No. 1, G. A. R. His daughter Pauline became the wife of Frank Mesker and to them have been born two children, Francis A. and John B. G.
Mr. Mesker is a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce, St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, St. Louis Club, Sunset Hill Country Club, the Academy of Science of St. Louis. St. Louis Art League, Citizens Industrial League, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis Mercantile Library Association and Building Industries Association. Mr. and Mrs. Mesker have traveled extensively, visiting many parts of the world, including Russia, Hawaii, the Samoan Islands, New Zealand, Australia, British and Dutch New Guinea, the Phillipine Islands, and China and Japan. Ilis social life is distinctly domestic. An honorable gentleman of most excellent and cheerful temperament, he never sought notoriety nor prominence and accepted no public office nor trust but he always has the welfare of the city at heart.
odfrey Swenson
A
LIST of the beautiful and substantial structures that have come into existence through the activity of the Swenson Construe- tion Company at once establishes the position of Godfrey Swenson as one of the most prominent contractors of western Missouri, for he is the president of the Swenson Construction Company, which he incorporated in 1908.
A native of Sweden, Godfrey Swenson was born on the 18th of April, 1876. His father was a contractor of heavy masonry in con- meetion with railroad, buildings, etc. The son graduated from schools in Sweden and studied some English preparatory to coming to the new world in 1896. He served an apprenticeship as a stone and brick mason and since the starting point in his career has made steady progress. His first work was a job by the day in Salina, Kansas, and the difference in his business position at the present is indicated in the fact that he is now erecting in Salina one of the largest buildings in the west. A few months after reaching Kansas he re- moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and again secured employment at his trade. He then began taking masonry contracts, which gradually became of a more extensive and important nature as he gave proof of his capability and as his powers increased through the exercise of activity. He likewise attended night school, where he took up the study of English, mathematics and drawing. In fact everything which he did constituted a forward step in his professional career. From the beginning his business has enjoyed a steady growth and today there is no better indication of his high professional standing than to state that he built the Telephone building of Kansas City, one of the finest office structures in the west, was the builder of the Westport high school, the Firestone building of Kansas City, the Security building and Liberty theatre of Kansas City, the Live Stock Exchange of Kansas City and the building of the Sears Roebuck Company of Kansas City. He has also been called into various other sections of the southwest, and at Excelsior Springs there stands as a monument to his skill and power the fine Ehns Hotel. His handiwork is also evidenced in the Barnes building at Muskogee, Oklahoma, and in the Sin- clair building of Tulsa, as well as in the Home National Bank building at Arkansas City. Another of the structures which have come into existence through his business power is the Coco Cola building of Kansas City.
In 1898 Mr. Swenson was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Johnson, who is also a native of Sweden. They have become parents of twins, Clarence and Florence. The son will graduate in 1921 from the Kansas University, while Florence will in the same year complete a course in the Kansas State Agricul- tural College at Manhattan. She is deeply interested in domestic science and in kindergarten work, being very fond of children.
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Godfrey Swenson
Mr. Swenson and his family are members of the Swedish Lutheran church and he belongs to various Masonie bodies, having taken the Scottish Rite de- grees, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has erossed the sands of the desert. He is deeply interested in civic affairs, supporting all measures for the general good, and in polities he is a republican where national issues are involved, but at local elections casts an independent ballot, considering men and measures rather than party. Mr. Swenson has contributed much to the up- building and development of Kansas City and in his construction work employs from two hundred to five hundred men. He was a member of the board of directors of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce in 1916 and 1917 and his life in every relation has spelled progress.
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Benjamin A. Wood
ENJAMIN A. WOOD, a St. Louis lawyer whose professional B ideals are high and who puts forth every effort to raise himself to the level of these ideals, was born in Johnson county, Mis- souri, November 18, 1876. His father, William L. Wood, was a major in the Confederate army during the Civil war. His birth occurred in Virginia but removing from the Old Dominion he became a resident of Missouri and made large investments in land. He was descended from English ancestors who fled to America to eseape the wrath of Cromwell, for they were devoted adherents to the eause of Charles I, and thus the family became founded in Virginia. In the maternal line Benjamin A. Wood comes of Holland ancestry. His mother bore the maiden name of Laura Helen Smith and was a daughter of Benjamin F. Smith whose birth occurred near Crawfordsville, Kentucky, and whose forefathers came from the land of the dikes prior to the Revolution.
Benjamin A. Wood acquired his early education in the public schools and was graduated from the high school of Holden, Missouri, while later he attended the State Normal School at Warrensburg and then entered the University of Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1903 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. During his college days he became a member of the Phi Delta Phi fraternity. His LL. B. degree was conferred upon him by Washington University, although he had previously been admitted to the bar upon examination. He at once entered upon the active practice of his profession in St. Louis and after a brief period entered into partnership with Thomas S. McPheeters, a relation that was maintained until 1916, since which time Mr. Wood has practiced alone. His tendeney is toward office and business practice and he has been successful both as a business lawyer and as a business man. With his younger brother, Louis R. Wood, he formed a corporation under the name of the William L. Wood Estate Company, for the purpose of investments and it has had a prosperous growth.
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