USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 28
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On the 24th of January, 1847, Julius L. Winkelmeyer wedded Christiana Stifel, who was born at Neuffen, Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1824, and who eame to America in 1840, going first to Wheeling, West Virginia, where resided five of her brothers and a sister. In 1847 she joined her brother, Frederick Stifel, in St. Louis and here formed the acquaintance of her future husband. Mr. and Mrs. Winkelmeyer became the parents of the following named : Frederiek, deeeased ; Julia S., now the wife of A. W. Straub; Christopher, who married
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adolph Elias Winkelmeyer
Emelie Springer ; Charles, deceased; William F., who has also passed away ; Julius L .; Adolph E. ; and Ida.
Adolph E. Winkelmeyer pursued his education at Eiser's German Institute from 1865 until 1867 and then entered the Eads publie school, in which he studied for six years. In 1873 he matriculated in Washington University, in which he pursued a four-year course. He began his business career in 1879 in. the employ of John Kimple, with whom he learned the trade of carriage build- ing. Ile was afterward associated with Zenas Varney, a carriage builder, from 1879 until 1881 and then entered the employ of J. B. Brewster & Company of New York, with whom he continued until 1884. He then abandoned the car- riage building trade and became associated with the Missouri Glass Company. In 1885 he entered into partnership relations as a member of the Alkire Grocery Company, which was established in 1852 and incorporated in 1885. Mr. Winkel- meyer was then associated with that business until 1902, when he withdrew in order to devote his entire time and attention to the interests of the Union Bis- cuit Company, of which he has been president since its formation in 1899. Today he is at the head of one of the important productive interests of St. Louis, with trade relations reaching out to various sections of the country. The business is one of very extensive proportions and its success is largely the direct result of the capable management and carefully formulated plans of Mr. Winkelmeyer. He is also president of the Missouri Engine Company, which was incorporated in 1914. This company makes oil and gasoline engines, in fact every kind of internal combustion power engines, and ships its products all over the world.
On the 15th of September, 1915, Mr. Winkelmeyer was married in St. Louis to Mrs. Nettie E. (Van Zandt) Gray, daughter of John and Jennie (Dalton) Van Zandt, of Jacksonville, Illinois, the former a grocer there. Her father was a native of Alsace and of French descent. He died in 1895, at the age of sixty-two years. His daughter, Mrs. Winkelmeyer, was born October 28, 1863.
In politics, Mr. Winkelmeyer has always been a democrat. He is identified with various social organizations. He belongs to the Missouri Athletic Asso- ciation, the Liederkranz, the Riverview Club, the Missouri Sportsmen's Game and Fish Protective League and for twenty-eight years has been president of the Gilead Hunting and Fishing Club, which has a preserve of about nine hun- dred acres in Calhoun county, Illinois. IIe is also president of the Horseshoe Lake Hunting and Fishing Club, which has about twelve hundred acres in St. Charles county, Missouri. He turns to hunting and fishing for recreation and diversion and is well known as one of the prominent sportsmen as well as one of the leading business men of St. Louis.
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C. 2). Beck
T HIS is an electrical age and back of the mammoth machinery which is proving the motive power in the world is a dynamo that is sending its currents into every piece of machinery. This force finds its counterpart in many men-men who are human dynamos in their skill in organization and in their power of construction. Such a one is C. W. Beck, the pres- ident of the Beck Realty Development Company, who never measures anything by the inch rule of self but by the standard gauge of op- portunity and possibility. In the conduct of his business affairs he is not only attaining substantial financial results for himself but is proving an element in the growth and progress of the city that is recognized by all who know aught of his career. St. Louis numbers him among her native sons, his birth having here occurred November 12, 1892, his parents being John T. and Catherine (Pfeiffer) Beck, both of whom were natives of this city and representatives of pioneer families. The father was prominently connected with the distillery business in St. Louis in an early day and was the first man to distill whiskey from oats, being pensioned by his firm in recognition of this discovery. Ile passed away in 1895, but the mother is still living and is now the wife of Joseph Resieo, who for thirty-three years has been connected with the American Car & Foundry Company.
C. W. Beck was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and also pro- moted his knowledge largely through reading and home study. When he was but seventeen years of age he was united in marriage to Miss Ruby Florence Langley, of Pueblo, Colorado, this being a school boy and school girl elope- ment. He was at that time the possessor of but ten dollars. Following his marriage he began work at the construction business and four years later, or by the spring of 1914, he had amassed a fortune of one hundred and four thousand dollars. By the following fall, however, he was not worth a dollar, having lost the entire amount in the construction business owing to conditions brought about by the outbreak of the European war. IIe then went to Colo- rado with his wife to visit her people, who resided upon a cattle ranch near Pueblo. The spirit of the young couple was not broken by their financial reverses and their pride would not allow them to let their financial condition be known. After their available funds were completely exhausted they slipped into Pueblo, rented a couple of cheap housekeeping rooms and Mr. Beck went to work as a day laborer in the steel mills at a dollar and seventy-five cents per day, which pittance was granted him in recognition of twelve hours' labor. It required an iron will and a strong heart to weather the adversities of that win- ter, but by the spring of 1915 the young couple had saved enough to buy a ticket to St. Louis. Soon after reaching the home city Mr. Beck was employed
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C. W. Beck
to help finance the Langham Cotton Cultivator Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and thus he found his niche in life, for he is a born salesman and organizer. His work took him all through the southern states and after the successful com- pletion of the organization of the company he found himself in the following fall solidly landed on his feet once more financially. Returning to St. Louis, he then engaged in the real estate business and is today one of the dominant fig- ures in connection with realty activity in Missouri's metropolis. In December, 1919, he organized the Beck Realty Development Company, of which he is pres- ident and principal owner. He is now handling extensive property interests both for himself and others, and with the thoroughness that has characterized him in everything that he has undertaken he has acquainted himself with every phase of the real estate market and is directing his activities along most pro- gressive lines. Moreover, he displays marked initiative and originality in the conduct of his affairs. He looks beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future, and it is this quality which has led him upon a campaign of advertising that has no direct influence upon his business but will bring about direct results in the upbuilding and benefit of the city. He has started a plan of advertising that will cause him to expend $12,- 000.00 in the year. He is placing four different signs in the street cars and in the coaches of the commutation trains of the Frisco and Missouri Pacific Rail- roads, urging cooperation of all citizens in an attempt to upbuild St. Louis. The cards for one month read as follows: "All pull together now for St. Louis." "There are some who knock St. Louis. Nail them when and where you meet them." "The old knockers are about through. St. Louis forges on in spite of them." "The sickly knocker with the weak chin and slanting fore- head has had his day. St. Louis moves on and a new spirit is abroad in this city." The second month brought out the following: "Knocking your own city easily becomes a bad habit. Don't get that way." "The loose-tongued, thought- less citizen who knocks St. Louis does not realize that he is almost invariably wrong-all wrong." "When you see something wrong don't go about knock- ing the town. A good citizen will try to remedy the condition. What are you doing for St. Louis along this line?" "The greatness of a city is in the hearts of her citizens. When you knock St. Louis you expose your own weakness and show that your heart is in the wrong place." Each card bore the name "Beck." People began to question "Who is Beck ?" but the man behind the name had no object of advertising himself in this, being prompted by a true spirit of altruism in behalf of his native city.
Mr. and Mrs. Beck have become parents of a son, William H., who was born April 5, 1914. Politically Mr. Beck is a republican and he is active in all civic affairs, having membership with the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce in both the senior and junior bodies. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and occupy an attractive home at No. 25 East Big Bend road in Webster Groves.
ayuton T. Glock
Lynton T. Block
3YNTON T. BLOCK is one of the most prominent figures in in- L surance circles in St. Louis. His advancement since start- ing out upon his business career has been continuous. Each step he has made has been a forward one, bringing him a broader outlook and wider opportunities, which he has eagerly utilized in the development of a business now of large extent and importanee. St. Louis numbers him among her native sons. He was born December 2, 1875, his parents being Charles W. and Fannie C. (Carroll) Block, the latter a lineal descendant of Colonel Henry James Car- roll, of Kingston Hall, Maryland, who was one of the heroes of the Revolution- ary war and belonged to the same family as Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Mary- land, who was the last survivor of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence and the first to affix his name to that momentous document.
Lynton T. Block was educated in the Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri. He started upon his business eareer in 1894 as a clerk with the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company and after three years' preliminary service became manufacturers' agent in 1898. His identification with the insurance business covers the entire period since the opening of the twentieth century. In 1906 he became branch manager of the Travelers Insurance Company, fol- lowing six years' service as insurance agent. In 1907 he was made general su- perintendent of the Travelers Indemnity Corporation at Hartford, Connecticut, and filled that position for four years, when in 1911 he organized the Utilities Service Company, of which he is the president, and also organized the Utilities Indemnity and Fire Exchange. He is also the vice president of the Employers Indemnity Corporation, the vice president of the Exchange Mutual Indemnity Insurance Company and is attorney in fact for the Utilities Indemnity Exchange and the Utilities Fire Exchange.
Mr. Block is a thirty-second degree Mason and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He largely derives his recreation and diversion from golf and belongs to several of the leading elubs of the city, including the St. Louis, Racquet, Noonday and Bellerive Country Clubs. Actuated by a most pro- gressive spirit, he has made steady advancement through all the years of his connection with the business life of St. Louis and his labors have been pro- ductive of most excellent results.
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Robert A. Barnes Walsh
OBERT A. BARNES WALSHI, vice president of the Mississippi R Glass Company and also officially connected with a number of other important business enterprises of St. Louis, his na- tive city, was born December 25, 1877, and is a son of Julius S. Walsh, who is mentioned at length on another page of this work. Liberal educational opportunities were accorded him. Ile attended the St. Louis University, also the Georgetown University of Georgetown, D. C., and then entered Princeton College. He initiated his business career as an assistant in the superintendent's office of the Mississippi Glass Company and as his powers developed he was advanced until in 1902 he was made seeretary of the company, while later he was elected to the vice presideney, which position he still fills. He has also extended his efforts into other connections, being now a director and the vice president of the Mis- sissippi Wire Glass Company of New York; vice president and general man- ager of the Walsh Fire Clay Products Company of St. Louis; a director of the Universal Arch Company of Chicago, Illinois; president of the Vandalia Land & Home Company of Vandalia, Missouri ; and a director of the Vandalia Lumber & Realty Company, also of that plaee.
In St. Louis, on the 15th of October, 1917, Robert A. Barnes Walsh was married to Miss Stella Sehnaider, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Schnai- der, the former now deceased, while the latter resides at Portland place. They have one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born July 7, 1920. Mr. Walsh finds his chief diversions in golf and horseback riding. lle is of the Catholic faith and attends the cathedral. He belongs to the St. Louis Country Club, the St. Louis Club, the Missouri Athletic Association and the University Club. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce. ITis political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is a member of the Protective League, while during the war period he was actively interested in the Liberty loan and Red Cross drives. While his business interests are extensive and important, he has always found time to cooperate in those measures which have to do with the upbuild- ing and progress of community, commonwealth and country and he has ever stood for the highest ideals in matters of citizenship.
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Sammen Fairfax Backen
Samuel F. Baker
SAMUEL F. BAKER is the president of the Sam F. Baker Mo- S tor Company of Kansas City and is a self-made man who deserves great credit for what he has accomplished. He has but just completed the third decade on the journey of life but already has attained a measure of success that many an older man might well envy. Kansas City is proud to number him among her native sons. He was here born May 24, 1890, his parents being Charles W. and Emma Florence (Lapsley) Baker, who were na- tives of Ohio and Alabama respectively. On removing to Missouri the father settled in Mexico and became very prominent in public affairs. IIe was keenly interested in educational matters and became treasurer of Hardin College. In the early '80s he removed to Kansas City, where he entered upon the practice of law and was soon recognized as one of the leading attorneys here. He also became a member of the Lapsley-Baker Company, real estate dealers, and thus he was well known in professional and business circles.
Samuel F. Baker, however, was but a young lad when left an orphan and at ten years of age he started out to make his own way in the world. After attending the public schools he continued his education in Park College, work- ing his way through that institution and also through the University of Kansas, for he early recognized the value and worth of education as a factor in a sue- cessful business career. He completed his university course with the Bachelor of Arts degree. The qualities which he displayed in acquiring his education indicated the elemental strength of his character, his firm purpose and his lauda- ble ambition. In 1910 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, but illness prevented him from completing his course. He finished his education in 1912 and on the 8th of June of that year became asso- ciated with the Union Depot Bridge & Terminal Company of Kansas City. In the following year he turned his attention to the automobile business, being first a representative of the Packard car and later of the Ford. He has made it his purpose to thoroughly master every element that relates to the automo- bile trade and he has gained notable success. He started with practically no funds and his close application, indefatigable energy and thoroughness have constituted the basis of his present prosperity. He has never been afraid of hard work and strict attention has been the foundation upon which he has built his present business.
After America's entrance into the World war, however, Mr. Baker put every interest aside save that of a military nature. In 1917 he was called from civil life and appointed a second lieutenant of engineers. He was sent as an instructor to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston to give in- struction in signal work and in August, 1918, sailed overseas, commanding the
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Samuel F. Baker
American detachment of the Fifty-fifth Division of the British army. He served in England, won promotion to the rank of first lieutenant and afterward to a captainey. He rendered valuable aid to his country in this connection and he is still identified with military interests as captain of Company II of the Third Infantry Regiment of the Missouri National Guard. With his return home he resumed his connection with the automobile trade of Kansas City and has not only won success in this connection but has also become a director of the Kansas City Terminal Trust Company and of the South Side Bank.
In 1914, in Kansas City, Mr. Baker was married to Miss Irene Neal, a dangh- ter of Charles T. Neal, the vice president of the United States grain commis- sion and representative of the United States when the first cargo of wheat was taken to Europe. To Mr. and Mrs. Baker have been born two children: Nancy Alice, whose birth occurred September 11, 1915; and Emily Florence, born April 15, 1919. The parents are members of the Westport Presbyterian church and Mr. Baker is much interested in all those forces which make for material, intellectual, social and moral progress. He is an active member of the Cham- ber of Commerce and in his college days he became a member of the Alpha Tau Omega and is now president of the Kansas City chapter of that fraternity. He also belongs to the Kansas City Club, the Lions Club, of which he is a director, the Kansas City Athletic Club, the Automobile Club and the Hillerest Country Club. He is a Mason, having membership in Ivanhoe Lodge, and he has likewise taken the degrees of the chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine and in the latter is a member of the Shrine patrol. The salient features in his career are most commendable. He worked his way through college, held high rank in the service during the World war and has made notable success in business, being recognized today as a dynamic force in the motor trade circles of the west.
Fred Achwiller.
Fred Wehmiller
3INCE 1894 Fred Wehmiller has been connected with the busi- ness of which he is now president and which is now conducted S under the name of the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Company. His entire life has been passed in St. Louis, where he was born November 10, 1873. His father, John Henry Weh- miller, was a native of Free State of Hanover, born in 1826, and was a youth of fourteen years when in 1840 he came to America, settling in St. Louis. Here he filled various positions until 1849, when he started with an ox team to California and remained for three years upon the Pacific coast, returning by way of the Panama route and New Orleans. After again reaching St. Louis he engaged in the flour brokerage business, in which he continued successfully until he retired about five years prior to his death. IIe was one of the original defenders of Camp Jackson in St. Louis during the Civil war. He was also a member of the German Turnverein, which captured the St. Louis arsenal in 1861 and turned it over to President Lincoln. He passed away in 1889, while his wife died in 1909. She bore the maiden name of IIen- rietta Jebker and was born in Osnabruck, Free State of Hanover, in 1833, com- ing to St. Louis in 1848. They were married in this city and to them were born four daughters.
Their only son and youngest child is Fred Wehmiller, who was educated in the public schools and in the Manual Training School of St. Louis. In 1891 he became assistant surveyor for the Terminal Railroad Company in connec- tion with the construction of the Merchants bridge and remained with that company until 1894. He then secured a position as draughtsman for Essmueller & Barry and a change in the organization in 1897 led to the adoption of the firm style of the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Company. Mr. Wehmiller became secretary thereof and so continued until 1903, when he was elected to the presi- deney and has now for more than seventeen years been at the head of the business. They are the largest bottle-washing machine manufacturers in the world and they ship their products not only throughout the United States but to all foreign lands, their business having now reached mammoth proportions. Mr. Wehmiller is also the president of the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Com- pany of Fort Worth, Texas, president of the Barry Realty Company of St. Louis and vice president of the Union Station Trust Company. The new plant of the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Company was erected in 1912 and is a model of its kind, having been built with a view to the comfort and convenience of the employes. It contains bathrooms, lunchrooms and every facility to provide comfort and entertainment for employes during the rest hours.
In May, 1905, Mr. Wehmiller was married to Miss Lillie Widmann, who was a daughter of Fred Widmann, a prominent architect of St. Louis. Their
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Fred daichmillet
children are Eleanor, Dorothy, Frederick W. and Paul K. Mr. Wehmiller finds his chief rest and recreation in sea voyages and in touring, greatly enjoying every form of travel. He has traveled extensively, has visited in nineteen countries, and is now preparing to make another trip around the world. He is well known in Masonic circles, belonging to the Scottish Rite bodies and Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and he is also a valued member of the Liederkranz Club and the Cedar Crest Country Club.
George Thomas D'Alaley
EORGE THOMAS O'MALEY, connected with the automobile business in Kansas City, was born in Hartwell, Ohio, a suburb G of Cincinnati, March 13, 1889, and is a son of P. J. and Sarah Cecilia (Grogan) O'Maley, both of whom were natives of Ire- land, where they were reared and married. The father was a graduate of Dublin University and after coming to the United States at once took up the profession of teaching in New Jersey. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil war as aide- de-camp to General Sidney Johnston and participated in many battles in Ten- nessee. After an active and useful life devoted to contracting, he having built part of the Queen and Crescent Railroad through Kentucky, he retired and spent his last days in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, on coming to the United States in the '40s he had settled in New Jersey and later removed to Shiloh. Tennessee, and it was while residing in the south that he became a supporter of the Confederate cause. To him and his wife were born seven children.
The youngest of the family, George Thomas O'Maley, was educated in Cin- einnati. Ohio, where after attending the public schools he was graduated from St. Xavier's College. Ile early entered the drug business as a clerk and after being thus employed in Kansas City he studied pharmacy in the Kansas City Pharmaceutical College, from which he was graduated. He went to Covington, Kentucky, in 1898. where for nine and a half years he successfully conducted a drug store at the corner of Eighth and Greenup streets. For a year he was a student of medicine in Kansas City, but gave this up to enter the automobile business on the 7th of February, 1910. as a salesman for the Ford Motor Com- pany, in which connection he was very successful. In 1916 he established busi- ness on his own account as sales agent for the Ford cars and in 1918 was also made distributor for the Fordson Tractors for the state of Missouri. He occupies a very fine building at McGee and Eighteenth streets and employs ninety-six people in the various departments of his business. He attacks every- thing with a contagious enthusiasm and has splendid salesmanship qualities, combined with courage and ability to handle this business. He is considered one of the best salesmen in the automobile trade of the state. He has the author- ized sales and service, handling genuine Ford parts and legitimate accessories in his establishment at MeGee and Eighteenth streets, while at No. 1717 Walnut street he is conducting business as a dealer in the Fordson farm tractors under the name of the G. T. O'Maley Tractor Company.
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