USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 14
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Reb. Rathan Scarritt, D. D.
EV. NATIIAN SCARRITT, whose life was one of signal use- R fulness and service to mankind, his labors constituting a valuable contribution to the moral and educational develop- ment of the distriet in which he lived, was a native son of Illinois, his birth having oceurred at Edwardsville on the 14th of April, 1821, his parents being Nathan and Latty (Allds) Scarritt. He was descended from Scoteh and Irish ancestry although the family had long been represented on American soil. His father, who was born in Connecticut in 1788, devoted his life to the occupation of farming. In 1812 at Lyman, New Hampshire, he was united in marriage to Miss Latty Allds, who was born in that state in 1793. They became the parents of ten sons and two daughters, of whom Nathan Searritt was the seventh ehild and sixth son. The father passed away in 1847 but the mother long survived, departing this life in 1875. In 1820 the family had removed from New Hampshire to Illi- nois, making the long journal to the then far west by wagon. They settled first in Edwardsville and afterward took up their abode upon a farm near Alton, in the district which became known as Searritt's Prairie and is now the seat of the Monticello Female Seminary.
It was upon this farm that Nathan Searritt was reared to the age of sixteen years, when he became a student in MeKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois, entering the preparatory department. IIe was ambitious to seenre a good education hut received little financial assistance from his father and in order to meet the expenses of the first year of his course at MeKendree he eleared brush and timber from the college campus, doing the work after study hours and often working by moonlight. With two companions he lived in a log hut, near which he feneed and cultivated a garden, and his meals often consisted only of potatoes of his own raising. Occasionally, however, bread and meat sup- plemented this seanty diet and during his college days he often kept his expenses down to less than fifty cents per week.
Owing to the illness of his father Mr. Searritt found it necessary to return home and manage the farm but as soon as his father's health permitted he again became a student of MeKendree College, through the earnest solieitation of the faculty, who offered him board and tuition on eredit. The year of his gradua- tion was 1842, at which time he won valedietorian honors and gained the Baehe- lor of Arts degree. He then turned his attention to the profession of teaching, which he followed at Waterloo, Illinois, and from the savings of the first two years he paid his indebtedness to the college.
Mr. Scarritt became a resident of Missouri in April, 1844, at which time he took up his abode at Fayette, there joining his brother-in-law, William T. Lueky, in the establishment of a high school. Mr. Lucky began with but six
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Rev. nathan Scarritt, D. D.
pupils and during the first week one of these became ill and three ran away, leav- ing only two. Notwithstanding the fact that the outlook seemed rather discour- aging, Mr. Scarritt succeeded in establishing an excellent school, known as the Howard high school, out of which were developed the Central College for males and the Howard Female College. Later. upon urgent solicitation, Dr. Scarritt became provisional president of Central College, thus serving for a year. From 1848 until 1851 he taught the Indian Manual Labor School in the Shawnee country of the Indian Territory and during the following year he was principal of the high school at Westport, having been very active in the establishment and development of that institution. He was also a teacher in Kansas City in 1864 and 1865.
It was his earnest desire, however, to enter the ministry and upon reaching a suitable age he was called to the duties of a class leader, while in 1846 he was licensed to preach and later in the same year was received on trial into the Mis- souri conference and was appointed to the Howard high school, where he was then teaching, in the meantime acting as minister to neighboring churches. While teaching among the Indians from 1848 until 1851 he frequently assisted the missionaries and in the latter year was appointed missionary to the Shaw- nees, Delawares and Wyandottes, preaching to these tribes through interpreters. Upon the division of the Methodist church he became identified with the south- ern branch of the denomination. He performed ministerial duty at Lexington, where he filled a vacancy, and in the latter part of 1852 was appointed to churches in Westport and Kansas City, while in 1853 he became a pastor of the Fifth Street church of Kansas City. In January, 1855, he was made pre- siding elder of the Kickapoo district of the Kansas Mission Conference, which body he represented in the general conference of 1858. Through the succeeding year he served in the Shawnee Reserve and during the two ensuing years was presiding elder of the Lecompton district. During the unsettled period of the Civil war. following the restoration of peace, he engaged in itinerant service in the ministry for a year and was then superannuated on account of physical disability but declined the aid due him from the conference fund. In 1876 he took up pastoral work in Kansas City, serving the old Fifth Street, the Walnut Street, the Lydia Avenue, the Campbell Street, and the Melrose churches in turn. He was a delegate in several sessions of the general conference, during two of which he served on the committee of revisals, and was assigned to a similar position at the session of 1890. In theology he proclaimed himself an Arminian of the Wesleyan Methodist type.
Dr. Scarritt's residence in Kansas City led to his accumulation of a large fortune and afforded him opportunity to aid materially in the development of that city and to formulate and exeente various philanthropie designs. In 1861 he bought forty acres of land near the city and subsequent purchases increased his holdings to three hundred and twenty acres, situated on Scarritt's Point, his first home there being a log cabin of his own building. He was early associated with Governor Ross of Delaware in the ownership of a tract of land in the heart of Kansas City, a block of which was intended to be conveyed in fee to the city upon condition that a courthouse or school be built thereon, but the city failed to make use of the opportunity. He was also a pioneer builder on Main and Walnut streets, where he erected many of the most substantial structures.
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Among his benefactions were five thousand dollars to the Searritt Collegiate Institute at Neosho; five thousand dollars to the Central Female College at Lexington ; and thirty thousand dollars to Melrose church, Kansas City, which latter edifiee was erected on a lot where for two years he previously maintained a tent for religious meetings. ITis benefactions were not restricted to the objects favored by his own denomination, for searcely a church in Kansas City was un- aided by him. Ilis desire to establish a Bible and Training School was on the eve of accomplishment when his death occurred, but his children faithfully carried out his wishes regarding the project by a gift of the site and twenty-five thousand dollars.
On the 29th of April, 1850, Dr. Scarritt was married to Miss Martha M. Chick, a daughter of William Chiek, one of the founders of Kansas City. She passed away July 29, 1873, leaving nine children, of whom six are living: Annie E., the wife of Bishop E. R. Hendrix, Edward L., Nathan, Jr., and William C., all residents of Kansas City ; Charles W., a elergyman of the Methodist Episco- pal church, South ; and Martha M., the wife of Elliott HI. Jones, of Kansas City. On the 6th of October, 1875, Dr. Scarritt was married to Mrs. Ruth E. Scarritt, a daughter of Rev. Cyrus Barker, a missionary of India, where she was born.
The death of Dr. Scarritt occurred in Kansas City, May 22, 1890, and was the occasion of the most deep and widespread regret. He was a man whose contribution to the world's work was of great worth. Afforded limited educa- tional opportunities in early youth, he nevertheless became a man of seholarly attainments and received the honorary Master of Arts degree from the Univer- sity of Missouri in 1857 and that of Doetor of Divinity from his alma mater in 1876. A contemporary writer has said of him: "His services as a clergyman and edueator were of great value. As a teacher he won his pupils as much through his kindly personal interest and sympathy as through his power of imparting knowledge. By deep study and close observation he stored his mind with ample material for every emergency and his sermons were models of in- struction and logical exposition. Sineere earnestness aided his effort, with an unaffected vigor of oratory which compelled attention and enabled him to im- press the individual hearer with the conviction that he was listening to a per- sonal message and appeal. His benevolences were free and liberal and directed in a sympathetic and orderly way, insuring perpetuation of the gift and in- creasing advantages from it in after years."
H & Garten
William Francis Carter
ILLIAM FRANCIS CARTER, president of the St. Louis Cham- W ber of Commerce and a well known attorney practicing as senior partner in the firm of Carter, Collins & Jones, in which connection he specializes in commercial law, was born Octo- ber 30, 1867, at Farmington, Missouri. His father, Judge William Carter, a representative of a distinguished Virginia family, was born in Missouri in 1830 and for a half century was a prominent legist and jurist, serving for twelve years upon the bench of the circuit court. He was a graduate of the Louisville Law School of the class of 1853 and throughout his professional career his course was one which reflected honor and credit upon the Missouri bar. Ilis political allegiance was given to the democratic party and fraternally he was connected with the Masons. He married Maria MeIlvaine, who was born in Washington county, Missouri, a daugh- ter of Colonel Jesse HI. Mellvaine. She passed away in 1901, while the death of Judge Carter occurred on the 22nd of July, 1902. The Mellvaine family came from Kentucky, making settlement in Washington county, Missouri, and the grandfather, Jesse H. Mellvaine, was a member of the board of the Iron Moun- tain Railway. In ante-bellum days he also represented his district in the state senate for a number of years and was a warm admirer and faithful political follower of Thomas Benton. He was a brother-in-law of Governor Dunklin, while one of his sisters became the wife of Senator Yell, of Arkansas, who fell in the battle of Buena Vista. There were seven children in the family of William and Maria (Mellvaine) Carter, of whom six are living, including Major General Jesse MeIlvaine Carter, of the Eleventh or Lafayette Division of the United States army.
William Francis Carter, after attending the public schools of St. Louis con- tinned his education in Smith Academy and in the University of Michigan, in which he pursued a law course, being graduated with the class of 1890. He was admitted to the bar at Marble Hill, Bollinger county. Missouri, in the same year and in 1892 he sought the broader opportunities afforded through the com- plex interests of city life by removal to St. Louis, where he has since built up a large clientage, figuring prominently in much of the litigation that has consti- tuted the work of the local courts. ITis addresses before the courts are charac- terized by perspicuity and often by a terseness that seems to put almost into a single sentence the very essence of his case, presenting it with a clearness that could not be attained in an extensive elaboration. He has largely specialized in commercial law, of which he has wide and comprehensive knowledge, and his legal advice has been sought by numerous large business houses. Through his own efforts, ability and merit he has built up a splendid practice and since 1904 has been at the head of the firm of Carter, Collins & Jones.
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Mr. Carter has also been a well known figure in various other business con- nections. He was the active vice president of the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis until 1919 and is now one of its directors, having retired from the vice presidency to reenter upon the practice of law with his son. He is identified with many important corporate interests of the city as a director, including the Scullin Steel Company, Jefferson Hotel Company, Missouri State Life In- surance Company, Scruggs-Vandervoort-Barney Dry Goods Company, Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney Bank, Industrial Loan Company, International Abrasive Company of Boston and the Fidelity Capital Corporation of Boston.
On the 15th of November, 1893, at Ferguson, Missouri, Mr. Carter was mar- ried to Miss Grace Thoroughman, a daughter of Colonel Thoroughman, a prom- inent attorney, who was formerly connected with the Iron Mountain Railway as general attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have become parents of two children. The daughter, Martha Wright, is now at home. The son, Emmet T. Carter, was educated in Westminster College and in the Washington University Law School, from which he was graduated in 1917. He is now connected with the firm of Carter, Collins & Jones. He married Lillian Baker, of St. Louis, and they have a daughter, Mary Frances.
Mr. Carter is a member of the American Bar Association, also of the Mis- souri State Bar Association and the St. Louis Bar Association. He is connected with the Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity, and that he is a prominent figure in the social organizations of St. Louis is indicated by his membership in the St. Louis, Noonday and Bellerive Clubs of St. Louis and the Bankers' Club of New York city. He is likewise a member of Occidental Lodge, No. 63, A. F. & A. M. In politics he is a democrat, and while he has never held political office that car- ries with it a remuneration, he has done important public work for the city and is now a member of the city plan commission of St Louis. He was recently ap- pointed a member of the school board by Mayor Kiel. He has long been deeply and helpfully interested in philanthropie work and has been active in promotion of the Red Cross interests, his team being the ranking one in recent drives. He has been the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and was elected to the presidency of that organization in November, 1919, the Chamber thus electing as its head a native Missonrian of tried powers who modestly disclaims any dis- tinction and yet who has gained a commanding position as a corporation lawyer of the city and as an officer and director in some of the largest commercial and industrial concerns of St. Louis.
amint o. Carter,
Emmet T. Carter
MMET T. CARTER, one of the young lawyers of St. Louis who E is making rapid advancement in his ehosen profession, was born in St. Louis, October 20, 1894, his parents being William Francis and Grace (Thoroughman) Carter, mention of whom is made at length in this work. In the acquirement of his education, Emmet T. Carter attended Smith's Academy at St. Louis and also St. John's School at Delafield, Wisconsin, and Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri. Thus he laid broad and deep the foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of his professional knowl- edge which was acquired in the Washington University school of law, from which he was graduated in 1917 with the degree of LL. B. He is a young man of sterling qualities who holds to high ideals and it is evident that he is making it his purpose to maintain the high standards that always found expression in his father's life. He entered upon the general practice of law in the office of the firm of Collins, Barker & Britton, in 1917, and continued with them until December 31, 1918. He then became a member of the firm of C'arter, Collins & Jones, condneting a general law practice, and although they do not specialize along any particular line they handle mueh important corporation practice. In fact, some of the most important corporate reorganization work has been effeeted by them. Something of his professional ability is indicated in the faet that he was admitted to a partnership by his former employer. He is recognized as a thoughtful, studious young man, possessed of a well balanced mind which he is developing through his literary studies in his leisure hours. Moreover, he holds to the highest of professional standards and is opposed to using his pro- fession to aid in the committal or defense of wrong. Already he has made for himself the position which indicates that his future eareer will be well worth watching.
During the World war Mr. Carter was active in support of all of the Lib- erty Loan drives and served on the legal advisory board in district No. 7. His work in this division required elose and constant attention owing to the faet that there were many foreign born in the district, largely Armenians. Being physically unqualified Mr. Carter was unable to join the army, much to his disappointment, but in every possible way he aided in the support of the pur- poses of the government in upholding the cause of world democracy.
On the 23rd of January, 1918, Mr. Carter was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Baker, at St. Louis. She is a descendant of one of the oldest and most prominent New England families, and traces her aneestry back in a direct line to Governor William Bradford of Plymouth, whose grandfather was a native of Nottingham, England, and died in 1596. The father of Governor Bradford died when the son was quite young and he then lived with his grandfather by whom
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Emmet C. Carter-
he was reared. Later he went to Holland and was married in Amsterdam on the 9th of December, 1613, to Dorothea May, his age being recorded as twenty- three and hers as sixteen. They embarked for England, July 22, 1620, and sailed from Plymouth on the 6th of September of that year on the Mayflower, reaching Cape Cod in November. The ancestral line comes down directly to William Bradford, the grandfather of Mrs. Carter who came to Missouri in 1820 casting his lot with the other pioneer settlers of this state, his daughter becoming the mother of Mrs. Carter. They are only twice removed in the Marmaduke line and are connected through the ties of blood with the Pierson and Jackson families. Rev. Abraham Pierson was the first president of Yale College.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter occupy an enviable social position, many of the most attractive homes in St. Louis being cordially opened to them. Politically, Mr. Carter is a democrat and he and his wife have membership in the Episcopal church. He also belongs to the Kappa Alpha and Phi Delta Phi, Greek letter fraternities, is a member of the Missouri Athletic Association and of the Belle- rive Country Club. He is extremely fond of golf and of fishing, to which he turns for recreation when leisure permits, but the major part of his attention is concentrated upon his professional duties, and his industry and intelligent ap- plication have won for him his present gratifying success.
Richard Henry Keith
T HERE is perhaps no record which illustrates more clearly the possibilities for successful achievement than does the life his- tory of Richard Henry Keith, who started in business in Kansas City in 1871 with a cash capital of but forty dollars, came to rank with the most prominent and prosperous coal operators and dealers and lumber merchants of the south- west. Mr. Keith was born in Lexington, Missouri, in 1842, his parents being Mr. and Mrs. Smith Keith, who removed from Virginia to Missouri in 1839. The progenitor of the family in America eame to the new world from Seotland in 1642. For more than eighty years the family has now been repre- sented in Missouri and has made valuable contribution to the business develop- ment of the state.
The education of Richard HI. Keith was acquired in the old Masonie College at Lexington, which he attended until seventeen years of age, when he left sehool to become deputy elerk in eireuit and probate eourts and reeorder of deeds in Lafayette county. At the age of eighteen he enlisted as a private under Colonel John Bowman of the state guards. He saw active service in the Con- federate army, participating in the battles of Lexington, Oak Hill and Pea Ridge. Subsequently he joined the Landis Battery Artillery at Memphis and he took part in the first and second battles of Corinth, also in the engagements at Iuka, Hatehie River, Grand Gulf, Fort Gibson, Champion Hills, Black River, and in the siege of Vicksburg. Refusing a parole, he was sent as a prisoner to Camp Morton, Indianapolis, from which he made his escape. He then went to Cali- fornia and was later connected with trading interests in Leavenworth and New Mexieo for two years, also conducting a dry goods store in Leavenworth for one year. In 1871 he eame to Kansas City and invested his entire capital of forty dollars in a little eoal yard on Bluff street. At that time Kansas City handled about thirty earloads of eoal daily. Mr. Keith lived to see four hundred earloads handled daily. Ile conducted a retail eoal business for several years and eventu- ally became president of the Central Coal & Coke Company. He opened the first mine at Godfrey, Bourbon eounty, Kansas, in 1873, and during the suceeed- ing two years opened other mines at Rich Hill, while later he became the owner of extensive and valuable eoal lands in the Bonanza distriet of Arkansas. The company which he founded now owns eoal lands that produce four million tons of eoal annually and is the largest enterprise of the kind in the southwest. Some- thing of the remarkable growth of the business is indicated in the fact that while Mr. Keith employed but two men at the outset, the company at the time of his death furnished employment to ten thousand men and the business amounted to seven million dollars annually. One hundred and twenty thousand ears are utilized and eoal is mined in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Wyo-
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ming. Retail coal yards are maintained at Wichita, Kansas, St. Joseph, Mis- souri, Omaha, Nebraska, and Salt Lake City, and the product is shipped through- out the south and southwest, the business exceeding in volume that of any other firm in the western states.
The Keith & Perry Coal Company was reorganized as the Central Coal & Coke Company on the 1st of May, 1893. Under the reorganization their lumber business developed rapidly and became one of the extensive lumber concerns west of the Mississippi. The property of the Bowie Lumber Company of Tex- arkana, Texas, was purchased, including twenty-five acres within the city limits of Texarkana. The plant was reconstructed along most modern lines and equipped with the most modern machinery. Actual operations were begun in January, 1894, and the plant remained in use until the summer of 1902. when it was torn down and a removal was made to Carson, Louisiana, as the timber had been exhausted at the former location. In connection with its lumber busi- ness the Central Coal & Coke Company owns a railroad fifty-one miles in length. Another sawmill was erected at Keith, Louisiana, on the line of the Kansas City Southern Railway. Mr. Keith also owned or controlled other extensive and im- portant lumber interests.
Richard H. Keith was twice married. In 1871 he wedded Miss Anna Boar- man and their children were three in number, namely: Charles S., Dr. Robert L. Keith and Mrs. Margaret. Keith Hastings. For his second wife Mr. Keith chose Mary B. Boarman, by whom he had five children : Mrs. Anna K. Kochler, R. H. Jr., Mrs. Virginia Field, Mrs. Emily Keith Fairleigh and Mrs. Mary Taylor Anderson.
Mr. Keith passed away in 1905, after more than a third of a century's con- nection with the growth and material progress of city and state. Fraternally he was identified with the Masons, while his political allegiance was given to the republican party. He served as brigadier general of the Confederate Veterans Association of Kansas City. A Catholic in religion, he conducted his business in accordance with a high standard of commercial ethics and was highly re- spected and admired by his colleagues and associates. He had developed his business interests to extensive proportions and his activities were ever of a character which contributed to public progress and prosperity as well as to individual success.
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CUkort Blair
Albert Blair
IIILE Albert Blair has continued in the general practice of law W in St. Louis sinee 1876, he has largely specialized in corpora- tion practice and his clientage of this character has been ex- tensive. Moreover, he has been instrumental in the organiza- tion of a number of important manufacturing and industrial interests which have constituted potent forces in the business development of the city. Mr. Blair is a native of the neigh- boring state of Illinois. Ilis father, William Blair, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1812, and was a representative of one of the old families founded in America in colonial days. Albert's great-grandfather, John Blair, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, served under General Daniel Morgan in the expedition to Quebee in 1775. Out of admiration for General Montgomery, who fell in the disastrous assault on the British stronghold at Quebec, John Blair named his oldest son William Montgomery Blair. The latter, born in Berkley county, Virginia, in 1778, became a soldier, pioneer and preacher, moving first to Ken- tueky, then to Ohio and finally to Pike county, Illinois. His son William mar- ried Mary Jackson in 1835, to whom Albert was born at Kinderhook, Pike county, Illinois, on the 16th day of October, 1840. His mother, a native of Oswego county, New York, born in 1814, was a daughter of Joseph Jackson, a representative in the fifth generation of Edward Jackson, a native of London, England, who with his brother came to America in 1638 and was one of the first proprietors of the town of Newton, Massachusetts. The history of that city states that Edward Jackson gave four hundred acres of land to Harvard College.
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