Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 4

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 4

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Agricultural and Mechanical Fair. Agricultural fairs were held in St. Louis County at as early a date as 1822, but no per- manent organizations, having for their object the giving of such exhibitions, were in exist - ence prior to 1841. On the first Tuesday in November of that year the fair of the Agricul- tural Society of St. Louis County was opened at the St. Louis race course, and on the 24th

AGRICULTURAL WHEEL-AGRICULTURE.

of the same month the Mechanics' Fair was inaugurated in buildings located near the Planters' House, on Fourth Street. Among the founders of these associations, one of which was designed to give an exhibition of agricultural and the other of mechanical prod- ucts, were William Bird, S. V. Farnsworth, C. Pullis, Joseph Charless, D. L. Holbrook, and others. Thereafter exhibitions were held under the auspices of these associations sep- arately until 1855, when, in pursuance of a plan to combine the agricultural and mechan- ical interests of St. Louis for the purpose of holding annual fairs, the Agricultural and Me- chanical Fair Association was chartered by legislative enactment. The first fair was held under the auspices of this association in Octo- ber of 1856. Since then its exhibitions have been held regularly each year, the successor of the original association being the present St. Louis Fair Association (which see).

Agricultural Wheel. - An organiza- tion started about 1886 in a number of coun- ties in central Missouri. It was modeled after the Farmers' Alliance and the Grange, its chief object being to combine against mid- dlemen, and to enable the farmers to buy goods at reduced rates-in fact, at about 10 per cent over cost of manufacture. The or- ganization was secret in character, and in each county several branches were started ; also stores on the co-operative plan at promi- nent trading points. None were eligible to membership but farmers and wage-workers, and it was intended that none other than mem- bers should have the benefits of the "Wheel." After a few years of experimenting-more profitable to the organizers and promoters than to the members-the movement proved a failure. The chief fields of operation were in Benton, Osage, Maries, Miller and other counties in the central part of the State.

Agriculture .- Missouri shares, with the other States of the Mississippi Valley, the fertile soil and salubrious climate of this favored region, and is, perhaps, favored above the others in being diversified with timber and prairie. It is not a prairie State, in the sense that Illinois is, nor was it covered entirely with forest, like Kentucky, but it possessed both prairie and forest, blended in a way admirably adapted to successful husbandry, All crops and nearly all fruits suited to the north tem-

perate zone thrive in Missouri, but the crops that thrive best, and are cultivated mnost suc- cessfully for profit, are the staple cereals, corn, wheat and oats, and the various grasses thit yield pasturage and hay. The State seems to be the home of these, and in its rich soil and favored climate they attain great perfection. The first farmers of Missouri came from Vir- ginia and Kentucky, and if the former were astonished at the prolific yield of corn their new farms in Missouri turned out, the others were not less surprised at the quantity and quality of its wheat yield. At first these two cereals, with tobacco, were the only crops raised in the State, but at a later day the deep, rich soil of Lafayette and Itoward Counties were found to be suited to hemp, and from 1830 to 1860 large quantities of that crop were raised for manufacturing into bagging and rope, for cotton bales. With the disappear- ance of slavery, hemp-raising disappeared also. and the staple no longer has a place in the farm products of Missouri. At the first set- tlement of the State, and for fifty years after, the cultivation of tobacco was an important feature in Missouri farming, because tobacco was not only always salable for cash, but in the early days was used as current money to a limited extent. But after the Civil War the crop began to fall off. declining from 25.000,- 000 pounds, in 1860, to 9,424,000, in 1890. But the entire abandonment of hemp-raising, and partial abandonment of tobacco, was fol- lowed by greater attention to stock-raising, and this has now become one of the chief fea- tures in Missouri husbandry, if not the most important of all. The soil and climate of the State are well suited to fruit, and apples, peaches, pears, plums, quinces and apricots are extensively cultivated. The Ozark region of southern Missouri shares, with the adjoin- ing region of Arkansas, the name of the "Big Red Apple Country," on account of the high color, flavor and size of the apples grown there, and the reliability of the crop. Mis- souri grapes enjoy a high reputation for their quality, and for the wine made from them, and although wine-making is not followed to the same extent as in the two decades between 1860 and 1880, large quantities of grapes are raised for table use. Since the year 1880 melon-raising has grown to be an important business in some of the counties of southeast Missouri, and large quantities in car loads are shipped to St. Louis, Chicago and other cities

ALABAMA SOCIETY -- ALBERT.

of the North and West. In the year 1850 there were 54,458 farms, embracing 2,938,425 acres of improved, and 6,794,245 acres of un- improved, land in the State, having an esti- mated cash value of $63,225,000. In 1860 the number of farms had increased to 92,792, and their value to $293,037,307; and in 1890 the number was 238,043, valued at $786,390,253. The cereal product of the State in 1890 was 197,000,000 bushels of Indian corn, 30,113,821 bushels of wheat, 39.820,149 bushels of oats, 34,863 bushels of barley, 28,440 bushels of buckweat, and 308,807 bushels of rye. The other products were, wool, 4,040,084 pounds ; milk, 193,931,103 gallons; butter, 43,108,521 pounds; cheese, 288,620 pounds ; 22,785,848 chickens, and 2,405,940 other fowls; 53,147,- 418 dozen eggs, 4,492,178 pounds of honey, 15,856 bales of cotton, 450,831 bushels of flax- seed, 2,721,240 gallons of sorghum syrup. 3,567,635 tons of hay, 93,764 bushels of clover seed, and 216,314 bushels of other grass seed ; 9,424,823 pounds of tobacco, 8,188,921 bushels of Irish potatoes, and 561,551 bushels of sweet potatoes ; 1,051,139 pounds of broom corn, 22,500 tons of grapes, and 1,250,000 gal- lons of wine. The estimated value of all farm products was $109,751,024, and the value of market-garden products, including small fruits, was $1,107,076. The number of head of live stock on farms in the State was, horses, 946,401 ; mules and asses, 231,714; working oxen, 14,006 ; milch cows, 851,076; other cat- tle, 2,104,634 : swine, 4,987,432; sheep, 950,- 562

Alabama Society .- A society organ- ized at the St. Nicholas Hotel, in St. Louis, October 18, 1898, which is composed of native Alabamians and is designed to promote friend- ship and social intercourse among those born in that State, who are now residents of St. Louis. William H. Clopton, M. Stone, C. B. Cook, H. R. Grubbs and others were the founders and first officers of the society.

Alba .- A town in Jasper County, seven miles west of Carthage, the county seat. was named for an early settler, who was the first postmaster. The town was platted in 1882 by Stephen Smith. It has a school, a Baptist Church, a Methodist Church, and a Quaker Church. There is a steam flourmill in the town, and lead and silicate mines in the vicinity. The estimated population January 1, 1900, was 300.

Albany .- A city of the fourth class, the judicial seat of Gentry County, situated near the center of the county, one mile east of the Grand River, on the St. Joseph branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and five miles from Darlington, on the Wabash. It has seven churches - Free Methodist, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, South, Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyte- rian, Christian and Baptist. There is a fine public school building, handsome courthouse, opera house, a fine, three-story temple, owned jointly by the Masons and the Odd Fellows, two banks, four hotels, three newspapers, the "Advocate," the "Advance" and the "Ledger," a flouring mill, foundry, and about sixty mis- cellaneous business places. The city has elec- tric lights, local and long-distance telephone service, and is the seat of two colleges, the Central Christian College and the Northwest- ern Missouri College, under control of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and con- nected with Central College, at Fayette, Mis- souri. The population in 1900 was 2,025.

Albert, Leon Joseph, banker, was born, November 6, 1840, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, son of Nicholas and Anna (Hoin). Albert. Nicholas Albert removed from Ken- tucky to Cape Girardeau, in 1852, and died there in 1876. The elder Albert was a mer- chant and a thoroughly public-spirited citizen, who spent much of his time and money to make the "Cape City" a commercial center. He established there a shipyard, and built at Cape Girardeau the "Alfred T. Lacy," the only steamboat ever built there. For a number of years he was United States gauger at Cape Girardeau. Speaking both the French and German languages fluently, he had the confi- dence of the French and German citizens of that place, and was their counselor and adviser on all occasions. He himself was French, and his father. John Albert, the grandfather of Leon J. Albert, served in the Napoleonic wars on the staff of the great leader of the French Army. In his early boyhood. Leon J. Albert lived in Portland -- now a part of Louisville, Kentucky-and there he began his education, with Honorable Norman J. Colman, now of St. Louis, as his teacher. Coming with his parents to Missouri, his further education was such as to fit him for business pursuits, and when he was seventeen years of age he re- turned to Louisville, where he clerked in a dry

ALDRICH-ALEXANDER.

goods store until 1861. He then came back to Cape Girardeau and became connected with the J. & S. Albert Grocery Company. This connection continued until 1871, except dur- ing two years of the Civil War, when he was employed as clerk on a Mississippi River steamboat, then under management of the Memphis & St. Louis Packet Company. In the fall of 1871 he embarked in the commis- sion business in St. Louis on his own account. At the end of a few months he was prevailed upon by Colonel Robert Sturdivant to return to Cape Girardeau and accept the position of cashier in what was then known as the Bank of R. Sturdivant. In 1881 this bank was incor- porated under the State banking laws of Mis- souri, as the Sturdivant Bank, and Mr. Albert was made cashier of the reorganized institu- tion. Ile has since continued to hold that position, and a service of nearly thirty years in this capacity has caused him to be regarded, in the banking circles of the State, as one of its most thoroughly efficient, capable and hon- est bank managers. During the period since 1882 there has been but one change in the board of directors of the Sturdivant Bank, and this was occasioned by the death of Judge Jacob H. Burrough. Mr. Albert was a direc- tor and treasurer of the St. Louis, Cape Girar- deau & Fort Smith Railroad Company from the time of the organization of that corpora- tion until the road was sold to the South Mis- souri & Arkansas Railroad Company, in 1899. and he is now a director of the last named company. From 1875 to 1880 he was secre- tary of the Southeast District Agricultural So- ciety, and in that capacity did much to benefit the farming interests of that region. In poli- ics he is a Democrat, but has only taken the interest which every good citizen should take in political movements and campaigns. Dur- ing the year 1874-5 he was a member of the Board of Aldermen of Cape Girardeau, and from 1877 to 1878 he was mayor of the city, and from 1885 to 1890 he again filled the mayoralty. During his first administration he, with others, formulated and secured the passage of an ordinance, under which the rail- road subscription of Cape Girardeau to the building of a railroad into the city was com- promised and refunded. The ordinance was unpopular at the time, but the wisdom of the action has since been made apparent to all. He has been treasurer of the State Normal School, at Cape Girardeau, and in 1889 Gov-

ernor Francis appointed him a member of the board of regents of that institution, to serve for a term of six years. Governor Stone ap pointed him to a second term, which he is now serving. June 2, 1864, Mr. Albert married Miss Clara Given Haydock, daughter of Gideon A. and Harriet (Conway) Haydock. of Smithland, Kentucky, and of Scotch-Eng- lish descent. Their children are Hattie Con- way Albert, now the widow of Ralph W. Mor. ton, of Cape Girardeau ; Leon Joseph Albert, Jr., assistant cashier of the Sturdivant Bank ; Ilarry Lee Albert, professor of biology at the State Normal School of Cape Girardeau ; Alma Edith, Clara Given, Leland Stanford, and Helen Roseborough Albert.

Aldrich .- A village in Polk County, on the Kansas City. Fort Scott & Memphis Rail- way, twelve miles southwest of Bolivar, the county scat. It has a local newspaper, the "Enterprise," and a flour mill, and a number of stores and shops. In 1899 the population was 225.

Alexander, B. W., merchant, was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, November 14, 1809, son of William and Cynthia Alexander. When he was twelve years old he was appren- ticed to a bricklayer, and while serving this apprenticeship gained the major part of his education through attendance at night schools and the reading of all books which came with- in his reach. In 1828 he came to St. Louis, where he worked at his trade for some years, and afterward opened a commission house, which first did business under the firm name of Alexander & Lansing, and later as B. W. Alexander & Co. He conducted this business with rare tact and sagacity, accumulated a for- tune and became identified with various prom- inent corporations, being president of the Commercial Insurance Company, a director of the St. Louis Bank, a director of the Pacific Railroad Company, and a director of the Boatmen's Saving Institution, of which he was an incorporator.

Alexander. Jesse Perviance, was born March 4, 1821, in Nicholas County. Kentucky. Ile came to Missouri in 1850, and before his arrival in the western part of the State, which was then an undeveloped wilderness, he prophesied that at some future time a great city would be built where West-

ALEXANDER.

port Landing then was. The prophecy proved to be a true one, as the present greatness of Kansas City shows. After coming to Mis- souri he visited St. Joseph, Leavenworthi, Kansas, and Omaha, Nebraska, together with other growing towns in the West, but finally decided that Jackson County, Missouri, was the most favorable location. He, therefore, bought a farm one mile south of Westport. He sold this farm a few years later and pur- chased a farm at what is now Thirteenth Street and Troost Avenue, in Kansas City, and a portion of which is included within the borders of Troost Park. In 1866 he disposed of this second farm and removed to Blue Township. Jackson County, where he had pre- viously bought a farm near Salem Church. His education was gained in the common schools. At one time he received an appoint- ment as cadet at West Point from his district in Kentucky. He surrendered this honor to his brother, General Barton Alexander, de- ceased, who had tried for the same appoint- ment and failed. Barton Alexander was an officer in the corps of engineers under Gen- erals Grant and Sheridan, and was with Sheri- dan on his famous "ride" from Winchester. After the close of the war Barton Alexander built the "Minot's Ledge" lighthouse. J. P. Alexander was a well informed man, and ab- sorbed knowledge of men and affairs from the busy world, being successful in business and popular with his associates. During the Civil War he was a captain in the Westport Home Guards. For a number of years he represented a constituency in the Missouri Legislature, and also served as a member of the city council of Independence, Missouri. He adhered to the principles of the Repub- lican party, but was a leader during the "Greenback" campaign, and was the nominee of that party for the office of Governor of Mis- sonri. Mr. Alexander held membership in the Christian Church of Independence. He was married, in 1866, to Marian Carter, daughter of Edwin Carter, a prominent resi- dent of Virginia. After spending the first eight years of their married life on the farm near Salem Church, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander removed to Independence, where he died, De- cember 10, 1896. Mrs. Alexander is living, being in her sixty-third year. To them four children were born: Ella Bright. wife of Ed- win R. Gill, an electrician in New York City ; Jesse Pauline, wife of John C. Lovrien, a rail-

road man of St. Louis; Virginia Carter, wife of Frederick A. Taylor, a dry goods merchant of Kansas City ; Walter Gilbert, who resides on the old home farm. Walter Gilbert Alexander was born February 18, 1878, in Independence, Missouri. He was educated at Woodland College, Independence, and the Kansas City High School. In 1898 he took charge of the homestead farm, and has given evidence of his abilities as a manager in the improvement of the place and its general development. It is now one of the most luxurious country homes in Jackson County. Mr. Alexander is a faithful Republican, but has never sought office. IIe possesses high ideals of good citi- zenship, and is loyal to the best interests of the State and community. Progressive in his methods and honest in his dealings, he has formed a circle of friends that is a tribute to the memory of his lamented father. Mr. Alexander was married, May 25, 1899, to Miss Blanche Mohler, daughter of Martin Mohler, of Kansas City, Kansas, and a sister of Mrs. J. A. Rose, of Kansas City, Missouri.

Alexander, Joshua Henry, for many years a prominent man of affairs in St. Louis, was born April 10, 1817, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died in St. Louis, June 30, 1879. His parents were William and Hester Alexander, who lived and reared their chil- dren in Philadelphia He was educated and fitted for a business career in the public schools of that city, and came west in 1835, when he was eighteen years of age. He ob- tained his earliest business experience at Al- ton, Illinois, where he was employed in the commission house of his elder brother, An- drew Alexander. In IS41 he came to St. Louis and embarked in the steamboat busi- ness, then so profitable and attractive, becom- ing connected with a line of boats plying be- tween St. Louis and New Orleans. Some time later he formed a partnership with Sam- uel Copp and established a general commis- sion business in St. Louis under the firm name of Alexander, Copp & Co. Later he became connected with the famous old-time banking lionse of Page & Bacon, and was afterward vice president and treasurer of the Ohio & Mississippi Railway Company, then building its line of railway from Cincinnati to St. Louis. This latter connection caused him to become interested in other transportation enterprises, one of which was the establishment of the

ALEXANDER-ALEXANDRIA.

fast freight line owned by Valentine & Co., the first fast freight line which came into ex- istence in the West. He also started the first omnibus line which carried passengers from East St. Louis, and established the St. Louis Transfer Company, which has since developed into an institution of great importance. At a later date lie was head of the firm of J. H. & F. R. Alexander, his nephew, Frank R. Alex- ander, being the junior member of this firm. During the years 1863 and 1864 he was secre- tary of the Union Merchants' Exchange, and afterward was a member of the commission firm of Richeson, Able & Co., Thomas Riche- son and Barton Able being his partners. He was senior member of the firm of Alexander, Cozzens & McGill when that firm conducted one of the leading dry goods commission houses of the city, and during the later years of his life was engaged in business as a rail- road contractor. During all the years of his active career as a business man in St. Louis he was recognized by his contemporaries as a man of sterling integrity and great moral worth, and he was honored at different times with official positions, which evidenced the esteem in which he was held. At one time he served as city comptroller of St. Louis, and he was one of the early presidents of the Mer- cantile Library Association. A Presbyterian in his religious faith, he was prominently iden- tified with the history of that denomination in St. Louis, and for many years served the Pine Street Presbyterian Church as deacon and elder. May 20, 1841, he married Miss Mary J. Chappell, daughter of William L. Chappell, who lost his life in the memorable Gasconade Bridge disaster of 1855.

Alexander, Maurice W., merchant and pharmacist, was born February 9, 1835, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died in St. Louis, June 6, 1898. His parents were John and Mary (Rittenhouse) Alexander, both na- tives of Philadelphia, and his paternal grand- father, William Alexander, and his maternal grandfather, Joseph Rittenhouse, were also born in that city. Reared in Philadelphia, Maurice W. Alexander obtained both his academic and professional education in the schools of the Quaker City. After complet- ing his course of study at the high school he entered the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, one of the oldest and most noted institutions of its kind in the United States, and was grad-

uated from that college in the class of 1854. Immediately after his graduation he came to St. Louis and entered the employ of Bacon, Hyde & Co., wholesale druggists, engaged in business on Main Street. Leaving their em- ploy in August of 1856, he began business on his own account, purchasing the drug store located at the southeast corner of Fourth and Market Streets, of which he was owner for twenty-three years thereafter. While operat- ing this drug store, noting the trend of trade toward Olive Street, he also opened another store on the northwest corner of Broadway and Olive Streets, in a building then owned by Stilson Hutchins, connected then with the newspaper press of St. Louis and famous later as an Eastern newspaper publisher. This store, which was at that time the handsomest in the West in furnishings and the most complete in its equipment for every branch of the drug business, was destroyed by fire in 1877. A year later, however, Dr. Alexander opened a new drug store at the same location, in a building which had been erected by J. Gon- zelman, who had purchased the ground from Hutchins. In this building, which later passed into the hands of Erastus Wells and is still owned by his son, he continued to con- duct a large and profitable drug business until 1892, in which year he purchased the stock of goods belonging to the Mellier Drug Com- pany and consolidated the two stores. For forty-two years and more he was a recognized leader among the retail druggists of St. Louis, and for many years his establishment had few rivals in its line in Western cities.

Alexian Brothers' Monastery .- A Roman Catholic institution founded in St. Louis, in 1869, by Brother Peters, of the Alexian Brotherhood. This is one of the four branches of that order in the United States. There were five members in the brotherhood in St. Louis at the beginning, but the order grew, and in 1898 it numbered thirty-five. Under its auspices have been erected a hospital and insane asylum at 3933 Broadway, and the cost of its buildings has reached a quarter of a million dollars. About fifteen hundred patients are cared for annually at these institutions.

Alexandria .- At one time the county seat of Lincoln County. It was made the county seat in 1823 and continued such until

ALEXANDRIA-ALLEN.

1829. Its population never exceeded fifty people. It was situated five miles north of the present site of Troy. For many years a post- office called Old Alexandria was kept there, but it was discontinued more than a quarter of a century ago.

Alexandria .- A specially chartered city, on the Mississippi River, in Clark County, on the Keokuk & Western and the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroads, fifteen miles southeast of Kahoka. It was settled in the winter of 1834-5, a ferryman building the first cabin in the place. It was the county seat of Clark County for some years. The town is nicely situated, and has well graded streets. It has a good graded public school, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian and Catholic Churches. The business of the town is represented by a grain elevator, saw- mill, planing mill, pickle works, hotel, and about a dozen stores and shops. Population, 1899 (estimated), 300.

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 4

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856