USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 20
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Frank E. Sheldon was born July 15, 1861, at Billerica, Massachusetts, and New England was the home of his ancestors through many generations, the family having been founded in America by two brothers who in early colonial days crossed the Atlantic and settled on the Massachusetts coast. Many gen- erations of the family continued in Massachusetts, but Oren Sheldon, the father of Frank E. Sheldon, was born in New Hampshire, and in that state was mar- ried to Jane Wight, a representative of one of the old New Hampshire families that traces its ancestry back to the Isle of Wight, England.
After mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools of his native town and in McCoy's school, a private educational institution at Lowell, Massachusetts, Frank E. Sheldon started out in the business world. Even prior to this time he had learned the value of industry and perseverance in the performance of various tasks upon the home farm outside of school hours. This not only included the work of the fields but also such tasks as carpenter- ing and painting, and from each experience in life Mr. Sheldon gained skill and knowledge which have proven of value to him in later years. A desire to enjoy better opportunities than he felt could be secured in his native village led him at the age of eighteen years to sever home ties and start for the west. He made his way to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he at once secured employ- ment in a printing office, a step that was very necessary, as he was the possessor of but thirty-five dollars when he arrived in the west. He afterward obtained a position in a lawyer's office and gradually made advancement in his business career, utilizing every opportunity that would bring him a broader outlook and larger financial returns.
In the spring of 1880 Mr. Sheldon secured a position in connection with the survey of the Northern Pacific Railroad under Colonel Dodge, chief engineer on the Yellowstone division. There his willingness to work and the readiness with which he grasped and utilized an idea brought him to the position of chain- man and his experience in this connection made him more and more largely familiar with engineering problems. His advancement in efficiency enabled him to secure a position as a member of the first exploration survey under Major
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Rogers when the Canadian Pacific Railroad was being extended into western territory. It was this surveying party that discovered Kicking Horse Pass. After considerable survey work they returned the following winter overland and on foot and with a wagon train, covering about twelve hundred miles, a trip that was fraught with many hardships and dangers. In the spring of 1882 Mr. Sheldon was made an engineer in charge of construction when the work of actual building was being extended westward. Ile occupied that position for five years while the Canadian Pacific was being built across the country, his task being a most arduous one by reason of the topography of the country-a highly picturesque but mountainous region that presented many difficulties to railroad building. In Kicking Horse Pass Mr. Sheldon had been one of the exploring party to devise the best means to overcome the problems of railroad construction involved in the wonderfully broken topography of that neighbor- hood and returned to direct the labors of the workmen in the actual accom- plishment of the task. Ile was in charge of divisions in the Kicking Horse Pass and the eastern slope of the Selkirks and constructed a loop of the Canadian Pacific which is regarded as one of the best examples of American engineering ingenuity. The hours which are usually termed leisure and which were devoted by Mr. Sheldon to study when he was serving as rodman were now bearing fruit in the financial success and reputation which he made for himself in the building of the Canadian Pacific.
It was about this time that Mr. Sheldon turned his attention to the lumber industry and became a member of the firm of George E. Snell & Company, opening a wholesale and retail yard on West Seventh street in St. Paul for the sale of white pine and hardwood lumber. His associate in this enterprise was on old friend and companion of his surveying days who, leaving the field of civil engineering, had become connected with the lumber trade in a clerical capacity. From the sale of lumber Mr. Sheldon branched out into other fields of the trade, taking up the work of lumber manufacturing early in 1892 in association with his brother, W. O. Sheldon, under the firm style of the Lawrence County Lum- ber Company, operating a plant at Summertown, Tennessee. Not long after financial difficulties involved the entire country and the new enterprise felt the financial stringency but struggled on for two or three years before the business was closed out. Frank E. Sheldon, who had had charge of the marketing of the company's product, had in this way made the acquaintance of lumber buy- ers in the middle Mississippi valley, including T. II. Garrett, a prominent lum- herman of St. Louis. Mr. Garrett had been an occasional purchaser from the Sheldon company and each gentleman recognized in the other certain business qualifications which he admired and regarded as valuable assets in a business career. Their mutual interests, therefore, led to a combination of financial in- terests, which on the 1st of March, 1895, resulted in the organization of the T. H. Garrett Lumber Company. The association yet continues and from the beginning passed on to broad fields of activity until it is today one of the most successful and prosperous of the St. Louis enterprises. In 1901, in connection with others, Mr. Sheldon and Mr. Garrett organized the Grant Lumber Company, Limited, of Selma, Louisiana, of which Mr. Sheldon became secretary and treasurer, and also occupied a similar position with the allied company operat- ing under the name of the Louisiana Railway Company and having headquar-
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ters at Selma. The business at that point was successfully managed until early in the year 1908, when an interest was sold to the William Buchanan interests and now continues under the name of the Grant Timber & Manufacturing Com- pany, of Selma, Louisiana. The lumber business of St. Louis, however, does not comprise the full extent of Mr. Sheldon's interests, for he is connected with the Louisiana Saw Mill Company of Glenmora, Louisiana, the Haynesville Lumber Company of Haynesville, Louisiana, and is also a director of the Bienville Lum- ber Company of Forest, Mississippi, the Grant Timber & Manufacturing Com- pany, and various other lumber companies. He is a director of the Boatmen's Bank, one of the strongest and ablest managed financial institutions in St. Louis, a director of the Lumbermen's Exchange of St. Louis, a director of the Amer- ican Thermometer Company of St. Louis, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
Pleasantly situated in his home life since his marriage on the 29th of Sep- tember, 1892, to Miss Jennie Maude Hammett of St. Louis, Mr. Sheldon has become well known in the social circles of the city and has been a supporter of many activities and interests for the benefit of the Missouri metropolis. In politics he has usually voted with the republican party where national issues and questions are involved but at local elections has cast an independent ballot when the matter to be considered was merely the capability of the candidate for the office he sought. Mr. Sheldon holds ideals in politics just as he does in rela- tion to every other interest of his life. He is an opponent of machine rule and a believer in the real expression of public opinion concerning the vital issues of the day. His cooperation can always be counted upon to further any plan for the general good and his influence has ever been used for the adoption of high civic standards. He belongs to the Missouri Athletic Club and the St. Louis Club, and enjoys outdoor sports. None come in contact with him but speedily recognize the sterling worth of his character. His early experiences and training in the pioneer west and in connection with the building of the Cana- dian Pacific showed him how valueless are all artificialities-that the real worth of the man is found in his character, and this has ever been the standard by which Mr. Sheldon has judged his companions. He has found his friends among high and low, rich and poor, and there are none who have been asso- ciated with him but have speedily recognized his ability and the strength of his manhood. Intelligently directed effort has brought him to the forefront in business and in the regard of those with whom social or other relations have associated him.
August Hemune
August L. Deman
UGUST H. HEMAN was serving his fourth term as mayor of A University City when death called him on the 3d of July, 1920. Ilis life was one of great activity and usefulness and he ranked with the substantial business men of St. Louis, where he was the head of the Heman Construction Company, and with the representative citizens of Missouri. He main- tained the highest standards in every relation of life and the sterling worth of his purposes, his undaunted integrity and his progressiveness gained him rank with the leading residents of the commonwealth. He was born in St. Louis, October 17, 1855, a son of Frederick Heman, who was born in Germany and came to America with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harmon Ileman, when but five years of age. The family home was established in Washington, Missouri, in 1832, and there the grandfather of August HI. Heman took up the business of farming and stock raising, casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers of Franklin county, where he resided throughout his remaining days, passing away at the advanced age of eighty-three years. His son, Frederick Heman. came to St. Louis when a youth of fifteen years and completed his education in the schools of this city. Later he was engaged in the brick manufacturing busi- ness, conducting a brickyard on Twelfth street, near Market, then one of the outlying distriets of the city. He followed the business successfully to the time of his death, which occurred in 1902, when he had reached the age of seventy-five years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Schreifer, was also a native of Germany and eame alone to America about 1848, settling in St. Louis, where she met and married Mr. Heman. She became the mother of six children, five sons and one daughter, of whom August H. was the fourth in order of birth. She, too, reached an advanced age, having passed the seventy- fifth milestone on life's journey when called to her final rest.
August H. Heman was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and early turned his attention to construction work. At the age of nineteen he became city contractor for St. Louis in the construction and repairing of streets and sidewalks and for a period of forty-six years he continued in the city service. In 1888 he organized the Heman Construction Company, of which he remained the president to the time of his demise. He was then the oldest contractor in St. Louis. Not only did he execute important city contracts but his firm also constructed several of the buildings at the Chain of Rocks waterworks station and built the Cascades, the chief scenie feature of the Louisiana Purchase Expo- sition of 1904, on Art Hill in Forest Park. They did much street and sewer building, and in addition to operating under the name of the Heman Construc- tion Company, Mr. Heman likewise became president of the Trinidad Asphalt . Manufacturing Company, the first business of the kind established in St. Louis.
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He manifested a spirit of progress throughout his entire career and was ever ready to take a forward step when the way was open. His business integrity was unassailable and constituted a strong supplementary force to his enterprise and indefatigable industry.
On the 30th of April, 1555. Mr. Heman was united in marriage at Percy, Illinois, to Miss Leota Lightner, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Captain A. S. Lightner. a prominent and well known Mississippi river captain of the early days. To Mr. and Mrs. Heman was born a son, Alonzo G., who in June, 1913. completed a course in the Washington University Law School as its young- est graduate. A life of great promise was cut off when on the 28th of May, 1916. at the age of twenty-four years. he passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Heman made their home at No. 6361 Washington avenue, in University City, and there the death of Mr. Heman occurred on the 3d of July, 1920. after an illness of but one day. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party and for eight years he was the honored and efficient mayor of University City. He always took a deep interest in politics and he labored untiringly to advance civic interests and promote civie standards in the city in which he made his home. He belonged to the Democratic Club and he was the last president of the Jefferson Club. He was likewise a member of University City Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and he belonged to the Riverside Club and to the Chamber of Com- merce. His life was ever actuated by high and honorable principles. His career was a helpful element in public progress as well as in the field of busi- ness activity, and the sterling worth of his character was recognized by all who knew him.
Charles S. Alves
HARLES S. ALVES, president of the Peoples Trust Company C of Kansas City, a man of judgment, of vision and keen in- sight into financial problems, has developed one of the strong financial institutions of the state since organizing the Peo- ples Trust Company, which opened its doors for business on the 20th of September, 1917. He dates his residence in Kan- sas City from 1906, having come to this state from Kentucky. Joseph B. Alves, father of Charles S. Alves, was born in Henderson, Kentucky, and became a man of affairs and prominence there, widely known as the president of the IIenderson Woolen Mills. He married Annie Henderson and they became the parents of five children, all of whom are living, but both parents have passed away.
Charles S. Alves was educated in the public schools of his native city, being graduated from the high school at Henderson. He came to Kansas City in 1906, being then a young man of nineteen years, and was first employed in the old American National Bank for a year. He later became general bookkeeper for the Central National Bank, occupying that position for six months, after which he was sent by Granville M. Smith, chairman of the board of the Commonwealth National Bank of Kansas City, to Strasburg, Missouri, and was made cashier of the Farmers Bank of that place. He continued there for a year and a half and on the expiration of that period returned to Kansas City, where in connection with Messrs. Smith & Ricker, members of a very prominent live stock firm, he gained added valuable business experience, remaining with them until 1910, when he organized the Southwest Boulevard State Bank and became its cashier. He continued in that position until September, 1917, when with others he or- ganized the Peoples Trust Company, of which he is the president. He is also the chairman of the board of directors of the Southwest Boulevard State Bank of Kansas City ; a director of the Union State Bank of Kansas City ; a director of the Colonial State Bank of Kansas City; and stockholder of the State Bank of Wichita, Kansas. The Western Financier said: "When Charles S. Alves organized the Peoples Trust Company, which opened for business September 20, 1917, with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars capital, it was his strong desire to make that a bank for the people *
* * representative of the service such an institution should render, and the fact that he has succeeded could be told best in the story of figures, showing the deposits as follows: September 20, 1917, $790,000.00; December 31, 1917, $1,094,018.00; March 4, 1918, $1,130,- 161.00; June 9, 1918, $1,661,257.00; November 1, 1918, $2,373,570.00; December 31, 1918, $2,431,792.00, while in the last few months of the year 1920 the de- posits were over $5,000,000.00. MIr. Alves is one of the youngest presidents of a city bank in the country,-only thirty-three.
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In 1907 Mr. Alves was married to Miss Katharine Triplett Kitchell, a daughter of Nathaniel A. Kitchell, of Henderson, Kentucky, and they have become the parents of two children: Margaret Henderson, born in 1908; and Elizabeth Merritt, in 1912. Mr. Alves is well known in the club circles of the city and is now treasurer of the Mission Hills Country Club. He is also a director of the Kansas City Club and has membership in the Mid-day Club and in the Chamber of Commerce. He is a Mason, belonging to Temple Lodge, No. 299, A. F. & A. M., and he has membership in St. Paul's Episcopal church. He is a man of attractive personality who in his business career has displayed marked initiative, and his enterprise, combined with splendid powers of organization, has brought him to the front in the financial circles of the state.
George R. Warner
GEORGE K. WARNER is a well known railway official of St. Louis who since December, 1883, has been connected with the G St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company and since Decem- ber, 1888, has been its treasurer. Ile was born in Mobile, Alabama, September 2, 1860, and is a son of George O. and Martha D. (Horn) Warner. The father was born in Macon, Georgia, and became a cotton merehant, well known in that connection. For four years he served in the Confederate army under General Joseph E. Johnston in the Civil war and his last days were spent in Mobile, Alabama, where he passed away in January, 1884. The masonie fraternity found in him an exemplary representative. Ilis wife was born in North Caro- lina and departed this life in August, 1907. Their family numbered seven . children, six of whom are yet living.
George K. Warner is indebted to the public school system of his native city for the edueational privileges which he enjoyed and which qualified him for life's practical and responsible duties. He was graduated from the Barton Academy at Mobile, Alabama, with the elass of 1874. Starting out in the busi- ness world, he was employed in the cotton business in Mobile, thus spending a few years. Ile then turned his attention to railway interests, becoming con . nected with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company as storekeeper at Mobile, where he continued until Deeember, 1883. At that date he was made chief cierk in the mechanical department of the Texas & St. Louis Railway Company, now the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, and was at Jones- boro and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, from December, 1883, until July, 1884. At the latter date he became bookkeeper in the accounting department of the same company at St. Louis, so continuing until 1885, when he was advanced to the position of chief elerk and thus served until 1888. On the 5th of December of the latter year he was made treasurer of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company and has continued in this position to the present time, covering almost a third of a century. He is also assistant secretary of that company and is viee president, secretary and treasurer of the Paragould Southeastern Railway Company, the Pine Bluff Arkansas River Railway, the Grays Point Terminal Railway Company and the Central Arkansas and Eastern Railroad Company, secretary and treasurer of the Shreveport Bridge & Terminal Company, and as- sistant secretary and assistant treasurer of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company of Texas, the Stephenville, North & South Texas Railway Company and the Eastern Texas Railroad Company. His interest in and connection with rail- roads thus became extensive and he is prominently known as a railway official. He is also officially connected with other business corporations.
In October, 1882, Mr. Warner was married to Miss Helen R. Ewing, daugh-
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ter of James L. Ewing, a native of Scotland, and of Martha A. (Hunter) Ewing, a native of Alabama. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Warner was celebrated in Mobile, Alabama, and they have become the parents of eleven children: Mar- tha, who is the wife of Miller Patterson, of Maplewood; four who died in in- fancy; Robert H., also living at Maplewood; Anne T .; James L., of St. Louis; George O., who is married and makes his home in St. Louis; Lula D., the wife of Herbert Rodway, of St. Louis; and Margaret.
Mr. Warner is identified with the St. Louis Railway Club, the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, the Citizens Industrial Association of St. Louis, the City Club of St. Louis, the Zoological Society of St. Louis, the St. Louis Art League, and the Society of Railway Financial Officers. He is a member of the Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal), in which he is serving as vestryman, junior warden and treasurer. He is a splendid type of the southern gentleman, never too busy to be courteous and never too courteous to be busy.
eneral John Tul. Reid
IIE life history of General John W. Reid was closely interwoven T with the annals of Kansas City, rendering it imperative that mention be made of him, else any record of the publie aetiv- ities of the city would be incomplete and unsatisfactory. Gen- eral Reid was born near Lynchburg, Virginia, June 14, 1820, his parents being John Charles and Esther (Austin) Reid. The family eomes of Irish ancestry, the line being traced back through four generations to James Reid, who was the first of the family to cross the Atlantic. He came from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1731, and established his home in Chester county, Pennsylvania. Since that time various members of the family have figured prominently in connection with interests and activi- ties which have constituted a vital force in the development of different sec- tions of the country. John Charles Reid and his brother, the Rev. Henry Reid, who was a prominent minister of the Presbyterian church, were the masters of a noted seminary at Lynchburg, Virginia. The first named served during the War of 1812 as a member of a company of Virginia militia commanded by ('ap- tain Dunnington, and valor and loyalty have ever been among the marked characteristics of the representatives of the name. In early manhood John C. Reid was united in marriage to Miss Esther Austin, a daughter of William Austin, representative of an old Welsh family, who served as a captain in the colonial militia and afterward held a similar commission while on duty with the colonial troops in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Reid was also the grand- daughter of Robert Alexander, founder of Liberty Hall Academy, now the Washington and Lee University, which was the first classical school west of the Alleghany mountains.
After spending the early years of his life in his native state John W. Reid, when a lad of twelve, was taken to Laporte, Indiana, where he attended the public schools and also continued his education under private instruction, thus acquiring a good classieal training. He came to Missouri when a young man of about twenty years, residing at various periods in Saline, Cass, Clay and Jackson counties, and as the years passed on he came more and more into prominence with the professional and public interests of the state. He first took up the work of school teaching and while thus engaged read law, being ad- mitted to the bar after thorough preparation therefor. He always applied him- self with thoroughness to the mastery of legal principles and displayed eon- siderable ability in the handling of litigated interests. When the United States entered into war with Mexico he put aside all business and personal considera- tions and raised a company of mounted volunteers in Saline county, of which he was elected captain. This eompany was attached to the command of Gen- eral A. W. Doniphan and participated in the great overland mareh to northern
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Mexico. The success which attended the operations of this small expedition was extraordinary, and one might say that to it and to Kearny's expedition, operating on identical lines, was due the acquisition of all territory gained by the United States prior to 1898. General Doniphan had high regard for Cap- tain Reid as a most ambitious and resolute officer, and in the "History of Don- iphan's Expedition," written by Hughes, the same estimate of his character and ability is given. While in Mexico, Captain Reid was wounded and left the service when his command was mustered out at New Orleans the following year.
With his return to western Missouri, Captain Reid entered upon the prac- tice of law at Independence, Jackson county, and in 1855 assisted in the re- vision of the statutes of the state. He was a recognized leader in political circles and served as a member of the legislature and also took a considerable part in the border troubles preceding the Civil war. He was twice a candidate for con- gress, being defeated on the first occasion but elected in 1860, although he re- signed his seat a few months later. Ile was appointed a commissioner to adjust claims against the Confederate government but probably had little time for the exercise of this function, as through the exigencies of war he spent a year in the federal prison in St. Louis, being released on parole to take no further part in the war.
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