USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 22
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J. D. Grannler
3 oseph D. Granville
OSEPH D. GRANVILLE, deceased, was prominently known in J business circles of St. Louis as the president and general manager of the Granville Supply Company. He was a man of many sterling qualities, enterprising and progressive in his business affairs, reliable in citizenship and faithful to all the ties of home and friendship. He was born in St. Louis, May 23, 1874, and was a son of Thomas and Mary (Green- field) Granville. The father held a government position in Washington for a number of years and passed away in the national capital. He served as a soldier of the Civil war, holding the rank of lieutenant in the Union army.
Joseph D. Granville was edueated in the Catholic parochial schools of St. Louis and in the St. Louis University, liberal intellectual training thereby well qualifying him for life's practical and responsible duties. His first position after he had completed his college course was of a elerieal nature in one of the banking institutions of his native city. Soon thereafter, however, he associated himself with the American Car & Foundry Company, with which he remained for ten years, and within that period he advanced step by step until he had reached the important position of district manager with the corporation, which employs more than ten thousand men, with plants in St. Louis, St. Charles, Missouri, and Madison, Illinois, being one of the leading car-building concerns of the United States. The position of district manager was therefore one of large responsibility and Mr. Granville fully measured up to all the require- ments. In 1908, however, he tendered his resignation to his employers in order to engage in the railway supply business on his own account and became president and general manager of the Granville Supply Company. Through the organization and incorporation of the business he became one of the well known factors in the railway supply trade of St. Louis. In business affairs he was found thoroughly reliable as well as progressive and enterprising and he carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook.
In 1899 Mr. Granville was united in marriage to Miss Jeannette Gardner, daughter of Godfrey and Frederika (Boedeker) Gardner. They became the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, Arthur J., Joseph H., Jeannette M. and Hazel E.
The family circle was broken by the hand of death when on the 18th of September, 1919, Mr. Granville passed away, his death being the occasion of deep regret to his many friends. He was a consistent member of the Catholic church, loyal to its teachings and to the faith. He was a member of the Democratic Club, but in national affairs always voted the republican ticket, supporting the candidate of that party for the presideney. He belonged to the Chamber of Commerce and thus manifested his interest in the welfare and
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upbuilding of St. Louis and in all those questions which are a matter of civic importance. Along social lines his connection was with the Missouri Athletic Association and with the Algonquin Golf Club. He was always genial and courteous and the sterling worth of his character was recognized by those who came within the circle of his friendship. Mrs. Granville is residing in the hand- some home at No. 6138 Kingsbury boulevard and occupies an enviable social position in St. Louis.
Joseph' Bryson
Joseph Montgomery Bryson
R. BRYSON came to Missonri from the Keystone state, his birth M having occurred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1867, his parents being the Rev. John Campbell and Nancy (Cham- bers) Bryson, who, removing to the west during the early boy- hood of their son Joseph, settled upon a farm which is now the site of Leeton, Johnson county, Missouri. He was a lad of fourteen when the family home was established at War- rensburg, Missouri, that the children of the household might enjoy the educa- tional advantages there offered. Joseph M. Bryson, who had hitherto attended the district schools, completed a high school course at Warrensburg and after- wards spent four years as a student in the State Normal School there, winning the Doctor of Philosophy degree upon his gradnation with the class of 1887. He made preparation for the bar as a law student in the office of Waruer, Dean & Hlagerman, prominent attorneys of Kansas City, who directed his reading for two years, during which time he also acted as law clerk for the firm. He was admitted to the bar in 1889 and entered at once upon the active practice of a profession in which advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability. Step by step he has progressed in his chosen field of labor, confining his attention to eivil law and specializing more and more in corporation law. Practically from the outset of his career he has been connected with the legal department of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, first, as law elerk, then successively, general attorney, general solicitor, and in 1912 was eleeted general eonnsel, which position he has ever since retained. In 1915, upon the appointment of a receiver of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, he was appointed general counsel for the receiver. ITe is a member of the St. Louis, the Missouri State and the American Bar Associations.
On the 17th of October, 1894, Mr. Bryson was married in St. Louis to Miss Mazie Barret Finney, a daughter of James Von Swearingen and Mary (Dal- ton) Finney. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson have a son, Chambers Fulton, born No- vember 6, 1896, and two daughters, Mary Finney, whose birth ocenrred on the 22d of January, 1898, and Aliee Dalton, born May 3, 1910.
Mr. Bryson belongs to the United Presbyterian church, of which his father was a minister, and his appreciation of the social amenities of life is indieated in his membership in the St. Louis Club, and the Bellerive and Sunset Country Clubs. His politieal allegiance has always been given to the republican party. and he is thoroughly conversant with the vital problems and issues of the day. but he has never sought the rewards of office for party fealty. His professional dnties have made full demand upon his time and that elose application, earnest study and high purpose which are so necessary to success in law praetiee have always been manifest in his eareer.
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L). Worthington Cody
'ITH various corporate interests of St. Louis which figure among W the most prominent business enterprises of the city II. Worth- ington Eddy is connected as a director or executive head. The story of his life is the record of orderly progression, directed by the hand of one who is master of himself, who correctly judges his capacities and powers and those interests which make up life's contacts and experiences. Starting out inde- pendently upon his business career when but seventeen years of age, he is today one of the foremost figures in the commercial and financial circles of his adopted city.
Mr. Eddy was born in Newark, Ohio, November 20, 1877, a son of Bryce Burtrand and Anna M. (Snyder) Eddy. The father, a native of Newark, Ohio, was a manufacturer and well known business man of that city and passed away August 31, 1906. The mother, who was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, is now living in Columbus, that state. The family numbered three children : Mrs. Marie D. Clow, now of Boston, Massachusetts; Thomas R., of Chicago, Illinois; and H. Worthington, of this review.
The last named was largely educated in the schools of Columbus, where he resided to the age of seventeen years, and then went to Chicago, where for a brief time he also attended the public schools. However, he was early thrown upon his own resources and began to earn his living when a youth of seventeen years. He was variously employed in Chicago, working and saving and constantly winning promotions to positions of larger and larger responsibility, while his powers de- veloped with each advancement, as it has always been characteristic of him that he has thoroughly mastered any task which he has undertaken. His life illus- trates the statement that activity does not tire; it gives resistance and strength and develops one's latent talents and powers.
On the 25th of August, 1912, Mr. Eddy came to St. Louis and has gradually made for himself a most enviable position as a leader in the business circles of the city, being now the executive head or the director of many large companies. He is the president of the Underwriters Service Company and is also of the Eddy Realty & Investment Company; is attorney for the Druggists Indemnity Exchange; is general manager of the Casualty Indemnity Exchange; is the presi- dent of the Nevada-Arizona Mines Company, and a director of the Judge & Dolph Company, which owns an extensive chain of large stores and controls the largest retail drug business in St. Louis. Mr. Eddy is also a director and stock- holder in many chemical companies and his cooperation is eagerly sought in all these connections because of the recognized soundness of his business judg- ment and the indefatigable nature of his enterprise.
On the 25th of November, 1915, Mr. Eddy was married to Miss O. Berenece
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D. Worthington Coop
Whittier, a descendant of the same ancestry as John Greenleaf Whittier, the loved New England poet. Mrs. Eddy is a voealist of note, possessing a fine voiee of operatie quality, and Mr. Eddy is also greatly interested in musie and art and is the possessor of an exeellent baritone voice. They have a beautiful home at No. 5414 Delmar boulevard, a handsome residence, which is one of the most attractively appointed in the city, its furnishings being all that wealth ean secure and refined taste suggest.
Mr. Eddy and his wife are members of St. Peter's Presbyterian church and he is connected with many worth while clubs of St. Louis, including the Raequet, the Missouri Athletic, the St. Louis, Automobile and Sunset Clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. He has been a most active and earnest supporter of the Red Cross and of various philanthropie projects. At a performanee given in the American theater in St. Louis for the benefit of the Red Cross, and for which an all star east consisting of fifteen persons gave their service, an anetion was held to sell a program of the entertainment. Mr. Eddy was the highest bidder for this program and received it for the sum of sixteen thonsand, eight hundred and fifty dollars. He also paid three hundred and twenty-five dollars for a single doughnut and then gave it back to be reauctioned for the benefit of the cause. Mr. Eddy is a man of fine physique and magnetie personality, of whom a prominent citizen of St. Louis said: "He is absolutely loyal to his friends, a hard worker and player, a lover of his home and family." His activity has ever spelled honorable sueeess, and recognizing his duties and obligations to his fellowmen, he is constantly extending a helping hand where assistanee is needed.
Jos Mr. Anul
John Al. Grant, Al. D.
TIERE are few men in the medical circles of St. Louis or in th- T country at large who stood higher in the profession than did Dr. John M. Grant, who at all times enjoyed an extensive practice. He was ever most conscientious and faithful in the discharge of his professional duties, while his wide learning and extensive research constantly promoted his efficiency. Dr. Grant was born in Callaway county, Missouri, January 11. 1864, and in the paternal line came of Scotch ancestry. His father. Samuel Grant, was born in Missouri in 1524 and was a son of Captain William Grant. The family was early represented in Virginia, whence representatives of the name removed to Kentucky, and in 1818 Captain William Grant left the latter state for Missouri. He filed on government land and then returned to Kentucky for his family. The fourth generation of the family in Missouri is now living on this land in Callaway county. It has never passed out of the possession of the family and is now the property of Mrs. Samuel Grant, who in her maidenhood was Miss Martha V. Yates. She. too, belonged to one of the old Virginian families that. like the Grants, lived for a time in Kentucky before coming to Missouri.
John M. Grant spent the days of his boyhood and youth upon the old home- stead farm and after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools of the neighborhood. continued his education in Westminster C'ollege at Fulton. Missouri, where he completed his course as an alumnus of the class of 1886. the Bachelor of Science degree being at that time conferred upon him. With liberal general education to serve as a foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of his professional knowledge. he took up the study of medicine. reading under the direction of Dr. Martin Yates, of Fulton, Missouri, while in the fall of 1886 he matriculated in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was graduated with the class of 1s-9. ranking with the four highest members of the class and receiving honorable mention. After taking the hospital examination he acted as junior interne at the City Hospital for a year and for a similar period as senior interne. thus gaining that broad and valuable practical experience which can be acquired in no other way as rapidly as in hospital praetice. In 1891 he began practicing independently and within a very brief period had won recognition as a most able and skilled physician. As the years passed his practice steadily increased and was concentrated more and more largely upon surgical work because of his widely developed powers in that direction. A contemporary writer said of him: ". He possessed a clear head, a steady hand. a delicacy of touch and. moreover, a sympathy of spirit, all of which are essential elements in success in surgery." His steady progress brought him at length to the front rank of the medical profession in St. Louis,
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John e. Grant, HO. D.
while his acknowledged skill and power as a physician and surgeon won him the recognition of the most eminent men of the profession throughout the country. Hle belonged to the American Medical Association, the Missouri State Medical Society, the St. Louis Medical Society, the St. Louis Surgical Club, the City Hospital Medical Society and to the Washington University Alumni Association.
In 1893 Dr. Grant was united in marriage to Mrs. R. Streiff, who bore the maiden name of Ida Becker. She is a daughter of August Becker, one of the noted artists of his day, who painted the panels in the old St. Louis courthouse and renewed the panels in the Merchants Exchange which were originally painted by his half-brother, Carl Wimar, whose paintings of American Indians and buffaloes made him famons. He spent much time in the home of the Indian and amid the haunts of the buffaloes, studying the native American as well as the animal life in its native haunts and reproducing both with such fidelity that his canvasses are today ahnost priceless. The paintings of August Becker also hang in the homes of many art lovers and in fine art galleries not only in St. Louis but throughout the country as well. Dr. Grant became the father of six children: Emily S., who is a graduate of Mary Institute; Walter S., a partner in the St. Louis Tin & Sheet Metal Company; Ida V., the wife of William H. Bell, of Cleveland, Ohio; Samuel B., who was graduated from the Washington University Medical College and is now engaged in practice; John M., Jr., who is attending Washington University ; and Edward W., who is em- ployed in the office of the St. Louis Tin & Sheet Metal Company. The two daughters, Emily and Ida, were very active in war work.
Dr. Grant was a member of Beta Theta Pi, a college fraternity. He also had membership with the Masons, belonging to lodge, chapter and commandery. Ilis religious faith was that of the Presbyterian church and in polities he was a liberal democrat. Ile passed away January 29, 1920, and was at the time a member of the board of education, in which connection he did much to elim- inate the evil of political control over the schools and worked diligently for a better educational system. At the time of his funeral all school work ceased in the city schools for five minutes at two P. M. on the day following his death as a mark of respect and the school flag hung at half mast for a week. Dr. Grant was a most liberal and charitable man and in the practice of his profes- sion had ample opportunity to do good work along those lines. IIe was con- tinually extending his professional aid when he knew no compensation could be expected, his broad humanitarianism prompting him to assist his fellowmen wherever he knew aid was deserved. IIe stood as a leader in all civie move- ments for the advancement of his home city and in every relation of life he measured up to the highest standards of manhood and citizenship. The world is better for his having lived and his good deeds caused his memory to be cherished by all who came within the circle of his acquaintance.
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William Holmes Thomson
ILLIAM HOLMES THOMSON, one of the most respected and W honored men in social and banking eireles in St. Louis, was for more than sixty-three years connected with the Boatmen's Bank, of which he was eashier for thirty-eight years and at the time of his death was a director and vice president. Throughout this entire period there has not been a single esoteric phase in his career, which on the contrary has been as an open book inviting closest scrutiny.
His life record began April 16, 1837, on the noted Hawthorne farm in Fred- erick county, Maryland. Ile was of English, Scotch and Irish lineage, although both his paternal and maternal aneestors became residents of Maryland during the colonial epoch in its history. His parents were William James and Marga- retta Ann (Davis) Thomson. ITis great-great-grandfather in the maternal line was John Lackland, who came from Scotland and settled in Maryland when it was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain. llis son, James Lackland, became an officer in the Revolutionary war, was afterwards a stanch advocate of Jeffersonian principles and was a gradual emancipationist more than a half century before Lincoln's proclamation freed the colored people of the south. In 1812 he made a will that his negroes and their descendants should be set free as they reached eertain specified ages. Thereafter, whenever he sold a slave, he inserted in the bill of sale the same provision-that on reach- ing a certain age the slave should become free. No persuasion nor consideration could induce him to act otherwise. In the year 1775 James Lackland, then nine- teen years of age, joined an exploring party which went from Maryland on a trip through the wilderness of Kentucky on horseback. He entered a large tract of land in the Blue Grass state when it was still one of the counties of Virginia and so aided in planting the seeds of civilization which have since resulted in produeing one of the leading commonwealths of the country. He was twenty years of age when, on the 14th of May, 1776, he was commissioned by the council of safety as seeond lieutenant of the company formed in the lower district of Frederiek county, Maryland, for service in the Revolutionary war. This com- pany beeame part of the Twenty-ninth Battalion, and with it he did active duty for American independence. He wedded Catherine, a daughter of David Lynn, who came from Dublin, Ireland, and settled in Maryland about 1717, becoming afterward a judge of the Frederiek county court and holding a commission under King George as justice of the peaee. IIe was also one of three commis- sioners appointed by the general assembly of Maryland in 1751 to lay out Georgetown, now in the District of Columbia. He had three sons, who espoused the cause of liberty in the Revolutionary war, one serving as lieutenant, another as captain and the other as surgeon. One of the daughters of James and
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William Dolmes Thomson
Catherine (Lynn ) Lackland was the maternal grandmother of William II. Thomson. She became the wife of Ignatius Davis, of "Mount Hope," Frederick county, Maryland, and their children include Margaretta Ann Davis, who in early womanhood became the wife of William James Thomson and later the mother of the subject of this sketch. William James Thomson was also born in Frederick county, Maryland, and was a son of John Popham Thomson and Margaret ( Holmes) Thomson, the former of English lineage, while the latter was a native of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The birth of William James Thomson occurred in Frederick county, June 26, 1808. He attended Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1828. He studied law but soon gave his attention to farming, and his place, "Ilawthorne," became one of the noted plantations of that locality. Thereon he resided until his death, June 21, 1841.
William Holmes Thomson was but four years of age at the time of his father's demise. He was reared in Frederick county, attended the public schools near his boyhood's home, was afterward a student in the eity schools of Frederick and later attending a boarding school in Pennsylvania. After putting aside his textbooks at the age of sixteen years he spent some time in the service of a commission house in Baltimore. He next was employed for a year with a civil engineering corps, during which time he assisted in laying out the Metropolitan Railroad, which extended from Washington to Point of Rocks, where it joined the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In the meantime he was study- ing business conditions in the east and in the west, and a comparison of the opportunities offered led him to the belief that young men eould more rapidly secure advancement in the Mississippi valley than they could upon the coast.
Therefore, in April, 1857, he made his way to St. Louis and on his twentieth birthday (April 16) entered the employ of the banking house where he continued to the time of his death, covering a period of more than sixty-three years. The Boatmen's Savings Institution had been organized ten years before his connec- tion with it by a few leading and philanthropie citizens who wished to promote thrift and economy among the steamboatmen, who at that time constituted the larger part of the laboring class in St. Louis. Suecess attended the venture from the beginning and a seeond charter was taken out in 1856 under the name of the Boatmen's Saving Bank. Mr. Thomson's early connection with that insti- tution was in a clerical capacity, but gradually he worked his way upward, his duties and responsibilities increasing as his faithfulness and efficiency were recognized. In 1869 he was appointed assistant cashier, and the following year saw him in the position of cashier, becoming thus the chief executive officer of an institution which in its reliability is second to none in the west. In 1913 he was advanced to the position of vice president of the bank, which office as well as that of a director he held until his death on June 23, 1920. The success of the bank is attributable in large measure to the efforts, enterprise and sound busi- ness judgment and conservative methods of Mr. Thomson, and the growth of the bank is indicated in part by the fact that the capital stock during his incumbency was increased to two million dollars as a result of accumulated profits after paying the stockholders in dividends more than six millions of dollars. Since the capital stock has been increased to two million dollars the bank has regularly paid to its stockholders semi-annual dividends of from three
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to six per cent and has accumulated, in addition, a surplus of one million dollars, and an undivided profit account of more than six hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Thomson was regarded as one of the most astute, clear-sighted and able finaneiers of the country, and there was no point connected with banking with which he was not perfectly familiar, while his word was commonly accepted as authority on all banking questions in St. Louis and the middle west. He was not unknown in other business lines, for he had cooperated financially and officially with various manufacturing establishments in St. Louis and had largely promoted business interests as a member of the Merchants Exchange and the Cotton Exchange. For several terms he served as chairman of the committee of management of the St. Louis Clearing House Association and was always an active and prominent member of that committee.
In 1862 Mr. Thomson was married to Miss Margaret Foote Larkin, the eldest daughter of Thomas II. and Susan ( Ross) Larkin, of St. Louis. Mrs. Thomson died in 1863. The only child born to this marriage died in 1864. In 1872 Mr. Thomson married Annie Lou, the eldest daughter of William A. Hargadine, of the Hargadine-MeKittrick Dry Goods Company. They became the parents of seven daughters and one son and, with the exception of a daughter who died in childhood, all are yet living, namely: Julia Hargadine, who married C. C. Collins, an attorney of St. Louis: William Hargadine, who married Miss Eliza- beth Johnson, of Corsicana, Texas; Virginia Mccullough, the wife of George W. Tracy, a dry goods merchant of St. Louis; Susan Larkin, the wife of Colonel A. B. Coxe, of the general staff of the United States army ; Holmes Lackland, who married Eugene M. Funsten ; Annie Lou, and Mary McCreery.
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