USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 5
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During the period of the Civil war Mr. Richards was a member for a short time of Company C, Nineteenth Kansas Militia, and participated in the battle of Westport on the 23d of October, 1864, it being the thirtieth anniversary of his birth. His political support has ever been given to the democratie party and he has long been accounted one of the strong factors in the organization, yet he has never sought or desired politieal preferment. Ile has ever stood for those interests which make for the publie good and has cooperated heartily with every movement of civic worth. His efforts in behalf of municipal ownership of the waterworks resulted most successfully. He recognized the value of city control of this public utility and was untiring until the results desired were accom- plished. He has been the champion of many other progressive public measures and his labors have been far-reaching and beneficial.
On the 16th of June, 1857, Mr. Richards was united in marriage to Miss Martha A. Harrelson, a daughter of Joseph A. Harrelson, of Sibley, Missouri.
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His wife passed away in 1874, leaving seven children, of whom four are living : May, now the wife of John G. Waples, of Fort Worth, Texas; Helen, the wife of Dr. J. E. Logan, of Kansas City; Walter B., who is the vice president of the Richards & Conover Hardware Company; and George B., who is the secretary of the company. Mr. Richards was again married December 1, 1877, when Mrs. L. M. Durfee, of Fairport, New York, became his wife. She passed away in Kansas City, December 19, 1906.
Mr. Richards has long been identified with Masonic interests and has at- tained the Knight Templar degree in the York Rite, exemplifying at all times the benefieent spirit of the craft and its teachings concerning the brotherhood of mankind and the obligations thereby imposed. In connection with Mr. Richards' services as president of the Commercial Club in 1902 and 1903 he was very active during the flood in the spring of 1903. The damage done to the city and surrounding country was very great, the water rising to a height of thirty-five feet above low water gauge, covering the low lands to a depth of ten feet. The suffering caused by such a flood was promptly met by the city officials in co- operation with the Commercial Club, so that within a month the life of the city rapidly recovered and business was fully resumed. He was a member of the park board at the time Mr. Swope gave to the city thirteen hundred acres of land, constituting what is now Swope Park. Mr. Richards was a most active member of the board at that period and was largely instrumental not only in having the park laid out but in ereeting the building at the entrance, the shel- ter house and many other buildings, and otherwise promoting the work of de- velopment and improvement. Ilis life has ever been actuated by a public-spirited devotion to the general good. He stands for progress and improvement in all that has to do with the welfare of his city and state and his has been a most active and useful life, attended with beneficial and far-reaching results. He is now nearing the eighty-sixth milestone on life's journey, a man who can look baek over the past without regret because of the wise use which he has made of his time, his talents and his opportunities.
Don. Elmer Bragg Adams, IL. D.
ON. ELMER BRAGG ADAMS, who for many years was judge H of the United States circuit court of appeals at St. Louis, was numbered among those men whose careers have reflected credit and honor upon the state that has honored them. Mis- souri has always been distinguished for the high rank of her bench and bar and among the ablest of her lawyers and judges there was none who displayed a more masterful grasp of legal principles than did JJudge Ehner B. Adams. But he was even much more than an eminent jurist. He studied closely the vital problems and ques- tions of the day and did much to influence publie thought and opinion. More- over, his entire career was permeated by a Christian faith that made the injune- tion "Bear ye one another's burdens" a ruling force in his life. Not only was he just, but he was kindly and considerate and men looked up to him not only because of the dominant quality of his intelligence but also because of the love which he constantly manifested towards his fellowmen.
Judge Adams was born at Pomfret, Vermont, October 27, 1842, and his life span covered the intervening years to the 24th of October, 1916, when he passed away in St. Louis, where for so many years he had made his home. He was a son of Jarvis and Eunice II. ( Mitchell) Adams, both of whom were of English lineage. The ancestral line was traced back directly to Henry Adams, of Brain- tree, Massachusetts, who came from England to the new world in 1634 and was the progenitor of the famous Adams family of Massachusetts, which has fur- nished two presidents to the country and many distinguished statesmen to the nation. His preliminary education was acquired at Meriden, New Hampshire, and he then entered Yale, from which he graduated in 1865, on the completion of a four years' course, the Bachelor of Arts degree being at that time con- ferred upon him. He maintained high rank in scholarship during his collegiate course and became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was also a member of Delta Kappa, Psi Upsilon, the Wolf's Head and also the Glyuna Boat Club.
After leaving Yale, Judge Adams traveled through the south for a year, establishing free schools for the poor white children, under the auspices of the American Commission, and these became permanent institutions. Deter- mining upon the practice of law as a life work, Judge Adams in 1866 began his law reading at Woodstock, Vermont, and afterward spent a term as a stu- dent in the Harvard Law School. He then resumed his study at Woodstock and in 1868 was admitted to the Vermont bar. The opportunities of the growing west attracted him, however, and in April of the same year he became a resident of St. Louis and was admitted to the Missouri bar. While advancement in law is proverbially slow, no dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost immediately there came to him recognition of his ability and as the years passed his clientage
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Don. Elmer Bragg Adams, LL.D.
grew in volume and importance. After ten years spent in St. Louis he was elected judge of the circuit court of the city in 1878 and occupied the bench for the full term of six years, after which he declined not only reelection but promotion. In 1885 he resumed the private practice of law as a member of the firm of Boyle, Adams & MeKeigham, which later became Boyle & Adams and for many years oeenpied a place of eminence at the St. Louis bar. In 1895 he was again called upon for judicial service, through appointment of President Cleveland, who made him United States district judge for the eastern district of Missouri. He served upon that bench until 1905, when still greater distinc- tion and honor came to him in his promotion, through appointment of President Roosevelt, to the office of United States circuit judge for the eighth judicial cirenit. It was the bigness of one man who could recognize the ability of a political opponent of equal broadmindedness as well as professional ability. Judge Adams was a warm personal friend of President Taft and it is said that the latter would have appointed him to fill a vacancy on the United States supreme court bench had it not been for his age. His rulings were always strictly fair and impartial and he presided over many notable cases. Mention might be made of his coneurrenee in the dissolution of the Standard Oil Com- pany into its constituent companies, though he did not prepare the opinion. He was also one of the four circuit judges who heard the Harriman merger case of the Union and Southern Pacific Railroads, the opinion being delivered by him. The famous phrase, "the man higher up," now so extensively used by the American people, was coined by Judge Adams. In charging the federal grand jury, which was investigating naturalization frands, he said: "Look not for the little man who is made a tool, but for the man higher np." Judge Adams appointed the receivers of the Wabash Railroad in the spring of 1912 and directed its management for four years until its reorganization and sale to the bondholders' committee, confirming the sale for eighteen million dollars. Likewise the receiver of the Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain Railways was appointed by him in August, 1915, but'on account of the press of other court matters he was relieved of the management of these railroads in December of the same year. In September, 1915, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway was placed in the hands of a receiver at his order and at the time of his decease was under his management. When Utah in 1896 was granted statehood, Presi- dent Cleveland appointed Judge Adams to organize the federal court. Ile spent three weeks at that time in Salt Lake City until the first judge was in- stalled. He became one of the best known jurists in the states comprising the eighth judicial eirenit and ranked with the most eminent men who have been connected with judicial service in Missouri. Ile was also celebrated as a lec- turer on legal topies and acted as special leeturer on succession and wills at the University of Missouri. The honorary LL. D. degree was conferred upon him by that institution in 1898, also by Washington University in 1907 and by Yale in 1916. Ile belonged to the Commercial, Noonday and St. Louis Clubs, the New England Society, the Sons of the Revolution and was a director of the American Peace and Arbitration League.
On the 10th of November, 1870, Judge Adams was married to Miss Emma UT. Richmond, daughter of Lorenzo and Ursula Richmond, of Woodstock, Ver- mont. He held the Presbyterian faith and was a member of the Washington
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Don. Elmer Bragg doams, LL.D.
and Compton Avenues church. Judge Adams spent a part of each summer at Woodstock, Vermont, where he was living when entering upon the study of law. In the summer of 1916, when he went back to the Green Mountain state for his annual vaeation, he did not put aside professional labors but spent his time in the preparation of opinions although he needed rest. Physicians say that it was this that brought on the stroke of paralysis resulting in his death. After being stricken he requested to be taken back to his home in St. Louis, where he passed away October 24, 1916. He was buried in the village cemetery at Woodstock, Vermont. On the afternoon when the funeral services were held all of the offices in the federal building connected with the department of jus- tice were closed out of respect to his memory and on the 8th of January, 1917, most impressive memorial serviees were held under the auspiees of the United States circuit court of appeals of the eighth cireuit, six judges presiding on that occasion. The press throughout the country commented upon his career. The St. Louis Republic, writing of him as "an upright judge and a kindly and modest gentleman," said: "Ile believed in the jurist's absorption in his pro- fession and he lived up to his belief. Ile spent his whole life and strength in the work to which his country had called him. His simplieity of manner and generosity of appreciation of good men and things will long live in the mem- ory of those who had the good fortune to come into contact with him. To him work was its own reward. Such a life may well be pondered by the young and rising members of the legal profession today." In the Globe-Democrat ap- peared the following: "Judge Elmer B. Adams died before his time because he placed the elaims of duty above consideration for his own health. He spent his last vacation period in writing opinions instead of in resting. He eould have retired from the bench, under the law, at full pay some time ago, but he preferred to discharge the duties for which he was so admirably fitted by native ability and long experience. He added Ister to the fame of one of America's most distinguished families. His private and public life was spotless. He be- lieved in American institutions and in his long career as a United States dis- triet and eircuit judge he kept their spirit ever in mind. He believed that the sturdy and steady enforcement of laws was more beneficial than the cumbering of the statute books with experimental legislation." There is no man who has ever stood more firmly for justice and right, yet Judge Adams ever tempered justiee with merey and there was something in his own life to which the good in others always responded.
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Charles D. Peck
BILARLES HI. PECK was one of the most distinguished finan- C ciers and citizens of St. Louis and among those who have been actively connected with the substantial and brilliant achieve- ments of this great middle west. He was numbered among those men whose personal influence and example have re- flected credit and honor upon the city. The vigorous strength of character and fine qualities and Christian life which he has shown in public and private life came to him as a legitimate inheritance from a long line of worthy ancestors in both the paternal and maternal lines; yet there is much about him that can with profit be set down here as an illustration of what can be done if a man with a elear brain and willing hands sets himself seriously to the real labors and responsibilities of life. llis was never a record of common places. It was because he learned to use to the utmost the talents with which nature endowed him and to value correctly life's contacts and ex- periences. Coming to the west during its formative period, he was among the promoters of its greatness, and in nearly all that he did the publie was a large indirect beneficiary.
Charles Henry Peek was born in New York city, September 21, 1817, a son of Stephen Peek and Catherine Barclay ( Walter) Peck, both of whom were of English lineage, closely related to some of the oldest and most influential fam- ilies of New England. Edward Peek, father of the emigrant ancestor. William Peek, was an eminent lawyer in London, sergeant at law to His Majesty Charles Il. The family name is of very ancient origin and its coat-of-arms, used as early as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, is now preserved in the British Mu- seum. The father was born in Connecticut and was descended from William Peek, who was born in London, England, in 1601 and came to America with his wife and son in the company of Governor Eaton and Rev. Jolin Davenport and others in the ship Hector, arriving at Boston June 26, 1637. William Peek became one of the original proprietors of New Haven, his autograph signature being affixed to the fundamental agreement or constitution, dated June 4. 1639, for the government of the infant colony. This is said to have been one of the first examples in history of a written constitution organizing a government and defining its powers. He was admitted a freeman October 20, 1640, and was a deputy to the general court from 1640 until 1648. The famous old historie house built by Hezekiah Peck at Attleboro, Massachusetts, has been secured and preserved as a relie by the Daughters of the American Revolution. It has stood for more than two hundred years, having been built in 1700, and has al- ways remained in the possession of the Peek family, six generations residing there. Isaac Peck, of the fifth generation, served in the Revolutionary war and died at Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1827. Stephen Peck. of the sixth gen-
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Charles D. Deck
eration, the father of the subject of this sketeh, was born in 1792 and died in 1820, at the early age of twenty-eight years. On the 1st of January, 1817, he married Catherine Barclay Walter, daughter of John and Lydia (Stout) Walter.
Through this marriage Charles II. Peck, whose name introduces this record, was a direct deseendant of Colonel David Barclay of the barony of Ury, Seot- land, who married Lady Katharine Gordon, daughter of Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown and known as the White Rose of Scotland. This marriage into the Walter family brings the line of descent down from Robert Walter, member of the king's eouneil from 1698 until 1730 and the thirty-third mayor of New York city, serving from 1720 to 1725. The ancestral line goes back to Philip Pieterse Schuyler, who emigrated from Holland in 1645, and Captain Arent Schuyler, who wedded Mary Walter, daughter of Robert Walter. Colonel Peter Schuyler, who became governor of New York in 1719, was a son of Arent Schuyler and his second wife, Swantie Dyekhuse. Colonel Peter Sehuyler married Hester Walter, granddaughter of Robert Walter and daughter of John Walter, Esq., who resided at Hanover Square, New York. Catharine Schuyler, the only child of Colonel Peter Schnyler, was the sole heiress of her grand- father, John Walter, inheriting a vast estate that had been accumulating for several generations and was equaled by few in either province. She married Archibald Kennedy of the Royal Navy, Earl Cassillas, who at her death mar- ried Anne Watts. In 1765 Governor Colden said that Archibald Kennedy pos- sessed more real estate in New York than any other man, owning the greater part of it by right of his wife, Catharine Walter Schuyler.
Stephen Peck, the father of Charles II. Peek and who married Catharine Barclay Walter, was buried in New York city, December 12, 1820, in St. Paul's churchyard, at the corner of Fulton and Vesey streets, where they attended service. This is the oldest public building and the only colonial church building in New York, erected in 1766. Immediately after his inauguration George Washington with both houses of congress went in procession to St. Paul's chapel, where service was held by Bishop Provost, chaplain of the senate. Charles H. Peck was connected by marriage with General George Washington through Jerusha Sands, who was his great-grandmother, a descendant of Robert Sandy's of Rattenby Castle, St. Bees, Cumberland, England, in 1399. The ancestral line is traced back to Captain James Sands of Sands Point, Long Island, or Cap- tain James Sands, who was born at Reading, England, in 1622 and came to Amer- ica in 1638. He settled first at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, while in 1660 he be- came a resident of Block Island, Rhode Island. His father was Henry Sandy's of England, a younger son of Dr. Edwin Sandes, archbishop of York in the time of Queen Elizabeth. While oeenpying the bishopric. Dr. Edwin Sandes leased Serooby Manor to the father of Brewster, who was one of the band of Pilgrims that landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. At his death the eldest son, Sir Samuel Sandy's, leased Serooby Manor to Brewster and there the first Separatists church was formed. All the sons of Archbishop Sandes were interested in the London Virginia Company, his second son, Sir Edwin Sandes being governor of the colony in 1620. lle also assisted the Mayflower company in the settlement of New England. A cousin of the family beeame the owner of Warner Hall, the estate of George Washington's father in Virginia. Another matter of historical
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Charles D). Deck
interest concerning the ancestry is that the London Times was owned by the Walter family for three generations. They were also the owners of Bearwood estate of about three thousand acres, at one time forming a part of the Windsor forest and purchased from the crown about 1810. At the close of the Penin- sular war King Ferdinand of Spain sent a table service of solid gold to John Walter ( Il) as an acknowledgment of his service rendered to the cause of Spain. Mrs. Rebecca Peek Dusenbery and Mrs. Max Bryant, daughters of Charles H. Peek, have in their possession the old Walter family bible, now one hundred and fifty years old, containing the Walter family records back to Robert Walter of England. This bible was handed down from John Walter (II), also the old English psalmbook over two hundred years old, which also contains the Walter records, and a jeweled knee buckle which he wore, these heirlooms passing from generation to generation.
Charles HI. Peck, long a most prominent and honored resident of St. Louis, was but four years of age when his father died and he afterward went with his mother to New Jersey, being reared there on a large farm belonging to his maternal grandfather. IIe made excellent use of his opportunities to acquire an education and early gave evidence of the elemental strength of his character -a strength that enabled him in later years to recognize and utilize all of the opportunities that came to him in a business way and eventually to gain a place of prominence in the business circles of his adopted city. During his teens he . went to New York, where he served an apprenticeship under an architect and master builder, developing marked efficiency along those lines. At length he heard and heeded the call of the west and by the river ronte along the Hudson to Albany, the canal to Buffalo and thence by the Great Lakes he made his way to Chicago, then a place of little importance. 1Ie and his partner then built a flat-bottomed boat, in which they proceeded down the Fox and Illinois rivers to Peoria and thence traveled by keel-boat to Beardstown, Illinois, and across the country to Alton, Illinois, proceeding thence by steamer to St. Louis, where he arrived in 1838. Of him it was written: "He was at that time twenty-one years of age, mentally and physically a vigorous young man, firm in the de- termination to win his way to position and affluence. St. Louis was not, how- ever, a great city in those days; fortunes were not made rapidly, as now, nor was money accumulated as a rule, except by earnest effort and persistent ap- plication to business pursuits only moderately remunerative. While it was then, as now, a substantial city, conservatism was a distinguishing characteristic of the business men of St. Louis, and men of enterprise and energy were needed to stimulate commercial and industrial activity. Mr. Peck became one of the pioneers of this class, and from the beginning of his career as a citizen of this city was foremost in encouraging the development of latent resources and the building up of industries in the city and throughout the state. From that time he was engaged in the conduct and management of, or pecuniarily interested in, many of the largest and most successful manufacturing enterprises of St. Louis." He possessed the characteristics that enabled him to make steady progress in his business eareer. His early training received in New York con- stituted the foundation upon which he builded his prosperity. He became an active factor in promoting the growth and development of St. Louis through his operations as a contractor. He erected most of the government buildings
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Charles D. Deck
in the old arsenal, now called Lyon Park, and also built the magazines in Jef- ferson Barracks. The eity and country residenees of Henry Shaw were erected under his supervision and he assisted also in laying ont the first outlines of Shaw's Gardens. ITis building operations constantly increased in volume and importanee, with the result that the energetie young man had in hand a reserve fortune that permitted his active promotion of and connection with various industrial and commercial pursuits that have been of the utmost benefit not only to St. Louis but to the state as well. At the time of his death the local press said : "He was one of that coterie of men, who in the turbulent times of Civil war and reconstruction, kept an ever-watchful eye upon the interests of the 'future great' and made the city what it is today." In all of his financial operations he manifested the keenest discernment and notable power in har- monizing complex interests and adjusting diverse relations, so that the utmost possibility of success was achieved. He studied the natural resources of the state and became a factor in its mining operations, its railroad building and the promotion of its manufacturing and banking interests. His work was espe- cially noteworthy in connection with the utilization of Missouri's mineral wealth. He was president of the Pilot Knob Iron Company in ante-bellum days, but during the period of the Civil war the works were destroyed. Mr. Peek, in com- pany with James HI. Lucas and John S. McCune, then purchased ground at Carondelet and established there the first furnace built west of the Mississippi . river to smelt Missouri iron ores with Illinois coal. It was believed that this . could not be done but Mr. Peck soon proved that it was no useless experiment and, after the first successful operation of the new plant, he was joined by other substantial business men in the erection of the Vulean Iron Works and Steel Rail Mill, which became a most important industrial coneern, ranking among the extensive iron manufactories of the country. In 1876 he served with the committee which met in Philadelphia and organized the Bessemer Steel Asso- ciation, which became a potent factor in the extension and development of the iron trade.
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