USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 21
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Captain Reid became a resident of Kansas City about 1865 and resumed the practice of law. He likewise became interested in financial affairs. In April, 1865, upon the organization of the Kansas City Savings Association, he became president of this institution, which was the forerunner of a number of banks in the state, the movement reaching its ultimate achievement in the establishment of the National Bank of Commerce of Kansas City. As a means of developing the material interests of the city and because of his earnest desire to promote the public welfare, Mr. Reid became an active factor in political circles, although not an aspirant for office. He nevertheless exerted much influence in molding publie thought and opinion and was closely associated with many important publie activities. He was largely instrumental in securing the first bridge and also the building of the first railroad into Kansas City, which probably more than any other agency influenced the future development of the then small town. In later years he gradually withdrew from the practice of law to devote his attention to his private business affairs and was thus engaged when death suddenly called him at Lee's Summit in 1893, while he was returning from his farm near that place. The sterling worth of his character, his contribution to public progress, his loyalty to his friends and his many substantial and ad- mirable traits caused his death to be a matter of keen regret to all with whom he had been brought in contact.
Mr. Reid was first married to Mrs. Flournoy and they had one son, John Henry. Captain Reid afterward wedded Sallie Cochrane Magraw, a daughter of William M. F. Magraw, of Independence, Missouri, who was a pioneer in the Santa Fe trade and a man of means and influence. The son of this mar- riage, William M. Reid, is mentioned at length on another page of this work. By the careful management of his business interests Mr. Reid had become, in the course of years, a man of large wealth, and he had left the impress of his in- dividuality and ability upon the history of his adopted city and state in many ways.
R. King Kauffman
MONG those men who form the coterie of leaders in the finan- A cial circles of St. Louis is numbered R. King Kauffman, the vice president of the Mercantile Trust Company, nor have his efforts been confined alone to one line, but have been im- portant elements in the organization and direction of various business concerns which are elements in the commercial and financial growth of the city as well as sources of profit to individual stockholders.
Mr. Kauffman dates his residence in St. Louis from 1887, but is a native of San Diego, Texas, his birth having there occurred August 25, 1879. lle is a son of Albert B. Kauffman, who was a colonel in the United States army, in which he served for forty-eight years, participating in the Mexican and Civil wars and in two Indian wars. Ilis entire service was west of the Mississippi and upon the country's frontier boundaries. Ile was a native of Pennsylvania, as was his father, while his grandfather came originally from Holland. Colonel Kauffman established his home in Missouri and spent twenty-eight years in this state, passing away in 1917. Hle rendered most valuable aid to his country through almost a half century and his name should be inscribed high on the military records of the nation. He wedded Sarah F. Cochrane, a native of Massachusetts, who is still living at the age of seventy-one years, and they became the parents of five children.
R. King Kauffman was educated in various schools at the different army posts where his father was stationed, also attended the schools of Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, and for a time was a student in Washington University. Like his father he joined the army, becoming a member of the Eighth United States Cavalry, to which he was attached for two years, during which time he was on duty in Cuba, serving as sergeant when he left the army. When he took up the pursuits of civilian life he entered the employ of the Wabash Railway, with which he was connected in a clerical capacity for three years. lle was later with the Pacific Express Company for three years and then became connected with the Mercantile Trust Company in its real estate department. Ile worked his way upward through various positions, winning advancement by his highly developed capability until he was elected to the office of vice president of this great financial concern in 1917. He is likewise the vice president and one of the directors of the John R. Thompson Company of Chicago, controlling many restaurants in the United States; is the vice president and treasurer of the Temtor Corn & Fruit Products Company, of which he was one of the organizers, this company being extensively engaged in the manufacture of syrups and preserves; is a director of the Best-Clymer Company, a subsidiary preserving company of the Temtor Company ; is a director of the Piggly-Wiggly Company,
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having organized the Missouri branch of that great commercial concern; and is also a trustee of the Home & Housing Association of St. Louis; a director of the St. Louis Real Estate Exchange; a director and vice president of Lowe's Real Estate & Amusement Company; a director of No. 1 Wall Street Corporation, of which he is also treasurer; and a director of the St. Louis Coliseum Company. Thus with many corporations he is actively connected, his voice having weight in the management of these extensive concerns, which are among the most prominent commercial and financial interests of America.
In 1903 Mr. Kauffman was married to Miss E. Eleonore Lohr of Cairo, Illi- nois, a daughter of Andrew Lohr, one of the pioneers and prominent citizens of that place. Two children have been born of this marriage: R. King, Jr., twelve years of age ; and Anne Drew, nine years of age, both in school.
Mr. Kauffman is a popular figure in the club circles of St. Louis. He be- longs to the St. Louis, City, Sunset Hill and Algonquin Clubs, the Illinois Ath- letie Club. the New York Athletic Club, the Military Order of the Loval Legion, the Legion of Foreign Wars, the Rotary Club, the Travel Club of America, the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, the Automobile Club and the St. Louis Sales- manship Club. He is a Mason, and belongs to Ascalon Commandery, No. 16, of the Knights Templar. His business activities have made his name a familiar one almost from coast to coast and his social qualities have rendered him popular wherever he is known. He has long since passed the point of mediocrity and reached a position where he is active in control of mammoth interests, being a man of broad vision and high purpose, while his intelligently directed effort has made his career one of successful accomplishment.
Cyrus Cogar Burford, M. D.
R. CYRUS EDGAR BURFORD, surgeon, of St. Louis, was D born in Girard, Illinois, August 20, 1876, a son of Giles M. Burford, who is a native of Missouri and a descendant of one of the old families of Virginia and Tennessee of English lineage. The family was founded in America in the year 1700. The American progenitor settled in New York and later representatives of the name lived in Virginia and in Tennessee. The father, Giles M. Burford, was for a number of years a well known elergyman of Illinois but is now retired. He married Elizabeth IIam- ilton, who was born at Marshfield, Missouri, and belongs to one of the old fam- ilies of Kentucky and Missouri, also of English descent. Her father, Abraham Freeman Ilamilton, was a Civil war veteran, serving under General Price's command in General Marmaduke's division. Mrs. Burford is still living and now makes her home in Girard, Illinois. By her marriage she became the mother of four children, two of whom have passed away, while those living are: Cyrus E., of this review ; and Mrs. George W. Scaling, whose home is in Fort Worth, Texas. She married into the Scaling family, prominent at Kirkwood, Missouri.
Dr. Burford obtained a public and high school education at Rushville, Illi- nois, and afterward entered Central College at Fayette, Missouri, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1899. This, how- ever, constituted only an initial step to his preparation for other professional activity and he completed a course in the St. Louis University in 1902, winning the M. D. degree. He afterward served for a year as interne in the St. Louis City Hospital and then engaged in private practice for a short time, after which he took up post-graduate work in Berlin, Vienna, Paris and London, making a specialty of the study of genito-urinary surgery. Ile has since specialized in the treatment of diseases of that character, the profession as well as the public recognizing his ability in his especial field. He is a well known member of the medical fraternity, is president of the St. Louis Medical Society for the year 1920 and formerly served as its secretary, is a member of the Missouri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. IIe likewise has mem- bership with the American Urological Society and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His membership relations also extend to Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
On the 15th of June, 1899, Dr. Burford was married in Fayette, Missouri, to Miss Katherine Lloyd Humber, a native of Albany, Missouri, and a daugh- ter of Ambrose W. and Molly ( Williams) Humber. The father of Mrs. Molly (Williams) Humber was a prominent physician in the northern part of the state and represented one of the early families of Missouri. The Humber family
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Cyrus Bogar Burford, H. D.
was also established in Missouri during the pioneer epoch in its development, migrating from Kentucky. Dr. Burford and his wife have become parents of two children : Ada Margaret, born in St. Louis, August 20, 1906; and Edgar Humber, born January 20, 1909. The family residence is at No. 345 Westgate avenue in University City.
During the war period Dr. Burford served as a major of the Medical Corps, being with the base hospital at Camp Dodge. Fraternally he is connected with Tuscan Lodge, No. 360, A. F. & A. M., also has attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry and is a member of Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the University Club, to the City Club and is also a member of the Sunset Hill Country Club and the Triple A Club. His religious faith is evidenced in his connection with the University Methodist church and he is now serving as president of its board of stewards. His interest centers in all those activities and forces which make for the uplift of the individual and the benefit of mankind and his cooperation can at all times be counted upon to further plans and measures for the public good. Those who know him, and he has a wide acquaintance, speak of him in terms of high regard and the pro- fession bears testimony to the eminent position which he has attained as a surgeon.
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H. Miller
Joseph Gilman Miller
3F "opportunity knocks but once," as some aver, Joseph Gilman I Miller made ready response to that eall at his door, for an active business eareer has brought him to a creditable and prosperous point in business eireles, where he is engaged in handling steel rails and railroad material. St. Louis is his native eity. His father, Joseph G. Miller, Sr., was a planter of Adams county, Mississippi, and became a member of the firm of Chappell & Miller of St. Louis. IIe was descended from English planters who settled in Georgia, and thus through many generations the family has been represented on this side of the Atlantie. In the maternal line Mr. Miller of this review comes of French-Swiss aneestry, the progenitors of the family hav- ing been associated with Lord Selkirk in the celebrated Red River of the North colony.
At the usual age Joseph G. Miller became a public school pupil and grad- uated from the St. Louis high school. Ile at onee started out in business and was connected with various railroad and manufacturing interests in St. Louis until 1889. His developing powers steadily qualified him for larger responsi- bilities and laudable ambition led him forward until in the year mentioned he became secretary of the Madison Car Company, filling that position until 1893, when he began handling steel rails and railroad materials. Through the inter- vening period he has carried on this business, which he has developed to exten- sive proportions, his trade relations covering a wide territory and bringing to him a most gratifying finaneial return. He has participated in the construc- tion of railroads in the southwest and Mexico and is a director and officer of many corporations at home and in the east.
On the 5th of November, 1899, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Caroline O'Fallon, a daughter of John J. O'Fallon, and their children are Caroline O'Fal- lon and John O'Fallon Miller. His military record covers service with Battery A of the Missouri National Guard. Ile is appreciative of the social amenities of life and has membership in the St. Louis, Noonday, Raequet, St. Louis Coun- try, Bellerive Country, Western Rowing and Dardenne Hunting Clubs and also belongs to the Masonie order. His religions faith is evideneed in his connec- tion with the Presbyterian church. Ile is a man of sterling worth who has al- ways held to high ideals and throughout his entire life has aided in the uplift of the individual and the benefit of the community at large.
One of the most interesting chapters in the life record of Mr. Miller is in connection with his service in the World war. Ile was commissioned a captain in the Reserves on the 1st of February, 1917, and upon America's entrance into the war he was ealled to the colors and stationed at Fort Roots, Arkansas, where he was acting as brigade quartermaster when ordered to Russia as a military
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attache at Petrograd. He was commissioned colonel on the personal staff of Governor Major of Missouri in 1912 and served until 1916, and he was also on the staff of Governor Gardner from 1916 until 1920. This and his foreign service brought him many most interesting experiences. He had opportunity to study the Russian question at close range and saw the progress of the Bolshevik movement which has so largely engulfed that country in disaster, staying its progress and stability in a manner that will require years to overcome. Mr. Miller has also spent much time in foreign travel, visiting all the capitals of Europe, and in 1903 he was special commissioner from the St. Louis World's Fair to the Mediterranean governments and spent the winter in Greece, Turkey and Egypt. There he sought to awaken the interest and secure the coopera- tion of the Mediterranean countries in making exhibits at the exposition. His travel and foreign residence have brought to him that broad knowledge and liberal culture which only travel brings and he has intimate and interesting knowledge of many foreign lands.
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John C. Lage
John Cutter Gage
J 30IIN CUTTER GAGE was an octogenarian when death called him on the 20th of February, 1915. For many years he had been an honored member of the Kansas City bar, his entire course reflecting credit upon the profession, for he always maintained the highest standards and his practice was at all times in accord with the most ethical professional relations and ideals. He came to the middle west from New England, his birth having occurred at Pelham, New Hampshire, April 20, 1835. He was of English lineage, the ancestral line being traced back to John Gage, who in 1630 came from England to the new world, establishing his home in Boston. His father, Frye Gage, was a farmer of New England and married Kesiah Cutter.
The youthful experiences of John Cutter Gage were those of the farm bred boy who early takes up the tasks incident to the development of the fields and who also becomes a pupil in the public schools, therein mastering the elementary branches of learning. Ambitious to promote his education, Mr. Gage later attended the Phillips Academy, in which he pursued a preparatory course and then entered Dartmouth College in 1852. Ile pursued the work of the fresh- man and sophomore years in that institution and then matriculated in Harvard University in 1855, being graduated with the class of 1856. In the meantime he had mentally reviewed the broad field of business with its varied opportuni- ties for activity and advancement along industrial, commercial, agricultural and professional lines, and decided that he would devote his attention to the prac- tice of law. Accordingly with this end in view he became a student in the office of S. A. Brown, then a leading attorney of Lowell, Massachusetts, and in 1858 was admitted at Boston to practice in the courts of Massachusetts.
Believing that the west offered better opportunities, Mr. Gage removed to Kansas City in March, 1859, and from that time until his demise remained a representative of the Missouri bar, becoming one of its oldest and most honored members. In 1860 he entered into partnership with William C. Woodson and in 1866 formed a partnership with William Douglas, which asso- ciation was maintained until 1869. The following year he was joined by Sanford B. Ladd in the practice of law and in 1878 a third partner, Charles E. Small, joined them, leading to the adoption of the firm name of Gage, Ladd & Small. For a period of more than thirty years the firm maintained its existence and Mr. Gage's connection with Mr. Ladd covered more than four decades. While Mr. Gage was still an active factor in the world's work one of his biographers wrote of him: "In his practice he has won a large percentage of the cases that have been entrusted to him. He convinces by his concise statements of law and facts rather than by word painting and so high is the respect for his legal ability and integrity that his assertions in court are seldom
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John Cutter Gage
questioned seriously. Judges and clients also respect him for his careful counsel. Ile is a man of most courteous manner and yet firm and unyielding in all that he believes to be right. Whatever he does is for the best interests of his elients and for the honor of his profession and no man gives to either a more unqualified allegiance or riper ability. His standing in the profession is indieated by the fact that he was honored with the presidency of the Kansas City Bar Associa- tion upon its formation and also of the Law Library Association, while his position in the profession in the state was attested by his selection for the presidency of the State Bar Association in 1884. No man is more familiar with the personnel nor the history of judicial proceedings of the state than Mr. Gage, who has written many historieal artieles upon the bench and bar of Missouri."
On the 26th of April, 1886, Mr. Gage was united in marriage to Miss Ida Bailey, a daughter of Dr. Elijah Bailey, of Monroe county, Missouri, and they have two children, John Bailey and Marian Mansur. The family eircle was broken by the hand of death when on the 20th of February, 1915, Mr. Gage passed away, being then in the eightieth year of his age. He had long been a most highly esteemed resident of Kansas City, honored and respeeted by all who knew him and most of all by those who had known him longest and best. He never deviated from a course which he believed to be right between himself and his fellowmen and was guided in all things by the utmost sense of justice, while in his praetiee of law he held to the most advanced standards and ethics of the profession.
Hugh K. Wagner
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Lyon. Dugh K. Wagner
JON. HUGHI K. WAGNER is a member of the St. Louis bar and H one who for many years has exercised a widely felt and bene- fieial influenee over publie thought and action. Ile is now representing the third district of St. Louis in the general as- sembly, his election coming as a surprise to many because the district normally has a large democratie majority. But this is a later chapter in his life reeord, which now eovers a span of half a century, his birth having occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 29th of September, 1870. The first school which he attended was the Lyon school and he afterward became a pupil in the Central high school. Having prepared for the law, he was admitted to the bar and has engaged continuously in practice sinee 1897. The passing years have chronieled his steady professional progress and he has long enjoyed an important praetiee. He is a member of the St. Louis, Missouri and American Bar Associations and is a member of the bar of the supreme court of the United States, also of the United States circuit courts of appeals, the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, and the United States district eourts of St. Louis, Missouri, San Francisco, California, Portland, Oregon, Mobile, Alabama, Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Missouri, ('hicago, Illi- nois, and other places. For eleven years he lectured at the Benton College of Law on the law of domestic relations, equity pleading, legal ethies, argumenta- tion, and common law and code pleading.
While a most prominent representative of the bar and one whose devotion to his elients' interests is proverbial yet who never forgets that he owes a still higher allegianee to the majesty of the law, Mr. Wagner has nevertheless found time for activities of a varied nature. He is a member of the board of gover- nors of the Aero Club of St. Louis. He was former chairman of the executive committee of the St. Louis Fire Prevention Club, is a life member of the Society of Authors, Incorporated, of London, England, and is a member of the com- mittee on municipal and state legislation of the St. Louis Chamber of Com- merce. In January, 1914, he founded and became the first president of the Safety First Society of St. Louis, initiating that movement in the city. He is now in his third term as a member of the executive committee of the Million Population Club of St. Louis, which organization works to bring industries to St. Louis and to the state of Missouri, and for the upbuilding of the material, moral and esthetic welfare of the great metropolis of this state. That organ- ization is seeking to obtain from the legislature the enactment of a statute that will permit an election to be held in St. Louis county to determine whether or not part of that county may be annexed to the city of St. Louis for the purpose of competing with cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Boston, that by annexation of their suburbs have so increased their respective
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Don. Dugh R. Wagner
populations as to endanger the relative rank of St. Louis in the United States eensus. According to the 1910 census St. Louis ranks fourth. By the annexa- tions of these others cities, her rank is threatened. It will be an injury to the state of Missouri if she loses this rank.
Mr. Wagner has been active for upward of twenty years in a large variety of civic movements for the public good, including serving as one of a committee of three of the Business Men's League of St. Louis which initiated the move- ment that succeeded in ending the deadlock on the selection of the approach to the Municipal Free Bridge, resulting in voting the bonds for its completion. In 1915 he was elected a member of the republican state committee and served as a member of its executive committee and as chairman of its finance commit- tee, and was reelected for another term. In 1918 he completed the revision and codification of the general ordinances of the city of St. Louis and the annotation thereof, of the new city charter, and of the Missouri constitution and state laws especially applicable to St. Louis by reference to court decisions affecting them. In the legislature Mr. Wagner is chairman of the workmen's compensation committee of the house and is one of the most active members of the judiciary committee. He is also a member of the house committee on municipal corpora- tions. Many people say that the workmen's compensation law was the biggest question before the legislature at its last session, or that has been up for the consideration of the legislature for many years, and all agree in conceding credit to Mr. Wagner for hard work, ability and fairness in conducting the workmen's compensation act to its present status. Mr. Wagner is a elose and earnest student of the grave political, sociological and economie questions which are before the country. Those things which are matters of grave national im- portance are to him of deep concern and to the solution of all publie problems he brings to bear a keenly analytical mind, well trained through his experience as a member of the bar. He does not regard anything as foreign to himself that affects the welfare of his fellowmen and he is spoken of as a prominent.lawyer of the highest type and character, while his public activities have been greatly diversified yet are all of vital importance to the commonwealth.
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