Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 54

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 54

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perception and logical reasoning have been characteristics which have impressed them- selves alike upon courts, juries, and his pro- fessional brethren. Grasping instinctively the vital points of a case, it has been his good fortune to command the closest attention of courts and juries through a plainness, direct- ness and clearness of statement, made im- pressive by reason of his evident sincerity and candor and the invincible logic of his utter- ances. The military training which he re- ceived in his young manhood seems to have impressed itself upon his professional career, and there has been something closely akin to military precision in his methods of practice, in his marshaling of facts, points of law in the trial of causes and in his disposition of the forces at his command as head of the law de- partment of a great corporation. Having the tastes of a scholar, as well as the instincts and talents of a lawyer, he has traveled far beyond professional needs in the field of intellectual activity, and as a resident of St. Louis has been numbered among those whose ripe learning and well-stored minds have made them leaders of thought and progressive ac- tion.

Blomeyer, Henry, who was for many years a prominent citizen of St. Francois County, was born September 4, 1823, in Han- over. Germany. His father was Louis Blo- meyer, who, as a member of the famous "Black Hussars" of Hanover, took part in the battle of Waterloo, in 1815. For bravery on the field of battle, and meritorious serv- ices, he was presented with medals by the king of Hanover. Henry Blomeyer was well educated in Germany, and in 1846, when he was twenty-three years of age, he came to the United States. Having been trained to the business of iron manufacturing, he occu- pied for some years thereafter important po- sitions in connection with iron works at Hanging Rock, Ironton and Portsmouth, Ohio. Early in the year 1860 he came to Missouri and settled on a farm two and a half miles south of Farmington, in St. Fran- cois County. He followed agricultural pur- suits successfully until the close of his life, and died on his farm in St. Francois County, October 24, 1896. A man of superior attain- ments and excellent business capacity, he was a useful and influential citizen, and was much esteemed in the community in which he lived

Haces H. Beana secc -

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for more than thirty-six years. Identifying himself with the Republican party soon after it came into existence, he stood with the patriotic Germans of Missouri in that loyalty to the Union which played so important a part in keeping the State from joining the se- cession movement. After the war he con- tinued to be in full harmony with the princi- ples and policies of Republicanism and voted with that party to the end of his life. For forty-seven years he was a consistent and ac- tive member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and exemplified in his everyday life the precepts and teachings of the Christian religion. April 26, 1845, he married Miss Henrietta Krull, and four sons and two daughters were born of their union. Three of the sons, early in life, entered the railroad service, and one of these sons, Edward F. Blomeyer, is now assistant to the president of the Southern Missouri & Arkansas Rail- road. George P. Blomeyer is a prominent merchant of Charleston, Missouri, and Adam D. Blomeyer is a well known physician of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Blood, Sullivan, banker, was born in the town of Windsor, Vermont, April 24. 1795, and died in St. Louis, November 27. 1875. His parents were natives of Massachu- setts, who emigrated to Vermont, then a newly created State, in 1793. Until the death of his parents, which occurred about the year 1813, he lived on a Vermont farm, and then resolved to come west. Two years later he made his way to Olean, New York, at the headwaters of the Allegheny River. intend- ing to descend the Ohio River with a party of immigrants, awaiting the opening of naviga- tion at that place. On arriving at the Seneca Indian reservation, however, he found em- ployment in the lumber business of that region, and remained there for a year. At the end of that time he started down the Alle- gheny River, and when he reached Pittsburg made an arrangement to work his passage down the Ohio River on a flatboat. He traversed the Ohio River to its mouth, and was on the site of Cairo before a house had been built there. Ascending the Mississippi River in 1817, he came to St. Louis, and from that time until his death made his home in that city. St. Louis was then in the transi- tion state between a village and a town, and, as usual in new communities, outlawry and

violence prevailed to such a degree as to seri- ously menace the safety of the inhabitants. At this juncture a number of young men of the place, Mr. Blood being one of them, vol- unteered their services to police the town, which they continued to do, with Sullivan Blood as captain, until a regular force was established. In 1823 he revisited Vermont, and while there married Miss Sophia Hall, who returned with him to his Western home. For a time after his return to St. Louis he served as deputy sheriff of St. Louis County, and in 1833 was elected to the Board of Al- dermen, in which body he served one term. About this time he became engaged in the river trade between St. Louis and New Or- leans, commanding different boats, in which he held large interests. He was one of the incorporators of the Boatmen's Savings In- stitution in 1847, became one of the directors of that company, and from that time forward to the end of his life was conspicuously iden- tified with the conduct and management of one of the leading financial institutions of the city. For many years prior to 1870 he was president of the bank, and retired only when he felt the burden of years, and preferred to shift a share of the duties and responsibilities incident to the management of the bank to the shoulders of a younger man. He con- tinued, however, to act as a director, and. until stricken with the illness which resulted in his death, was a daily visitor to the bank, and a valued adviser of its more active offi- cials. The members of his family who sur- vived him were his wife, one son and two daughters.

" Bloody Bonds."- See "Cass County Bond Tragedy."

"Bloody Hill."-A name given to the hill on the field of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Missouri, where, on the 10th of August, 1861, the battle was fought in which General Lyon, in command of the Union troops, lost his life. It is about one hundred feet high, covered at the time with scrub oak trees and undergrowth. It was the center of the fiercest fighting, and it was there General Lyon fell, and near by Captain Cary Gratz, of St. Louis ; and it was there, too, that Colonel Weightman, and several other officers on the Confederate side, were killed.

302

BLOODY ISLAND.

Bloody Island, so called from the bloody duels fought on the spot, is no longer locally known by that opprobrious name. It is no longer an island, and, happily, has lost its former identity as such, as well as its san- guinary name. But its celebrity as a famous dueling ground, like those equally famous ones of Chalk Farm, in England, and Wee- hawken and Bladensburg, in this country, will long attach to it as a memory of the past, recalling the many fatal combats fought thercon. Bloody Island was formed by the erratic currents of the Mississippi. Its origin is due to the excavating and wearing power of the currents, such as in the geological ages, and in our modern river systems, have produced stupendous effects. In 1795 Cap- tain Piggott constructed a bridge across Ca- hokia Creek, and erected two log cabins on the west shore. Obtaining a license from Governor Trudeau, of St. Louis, to establish a ferry, he erected a ferryhouse at the foot of Market Street, and, with a platform of boards on two canoes, began to transport passengers and teams across the river. At that time the river passed along the limestone banks of St. Louis in a swift channel seventy-five feet deep. Up to 1800 the shores were so near each other that the call of passengers desir- ing to cross over could be distinctly heard from either side. There were then no forma- tions, since known as Bloody Island, Dun- can's Island and Arsenal Island-the river flowing past the village in a deep, swift chan- nel, as before stated. These are creations since formed and caused by the unruly move- ments of the river below the Chain of Rocks, and the disturbing changes produced by the currents below. Early in the year 1800, ac- cording to some, but according to Dr. Pig- gott, in the fall of 1798, a sand-bar formed below Bissell's Point, on the Illinois shore, lifting its head just above the surface of the river. This was the first appearance of Bloody Island. Before this time accretions had accumulated on the west side of Cabaret Island. This caused the current to carry off large portions of the Missouri shore, and formed Sawyer's Bend, above Bissell's Point. The current, which before this swept by St. Lonis in one main channel, became divided, and one portion of the water, carrying with it large deposits of sand, choked up the har- bor of St. Louis. The other portion, deflected from its course, passed between the incipient

island and the Illinois shore, and wore it away with tremendous force. The diverted current kept on expanding the channel shoreward in Illinois, until, in 1825, half of the Mississippi River flowed on the east side of Bloody Is- land. The upper part of the island gradually wore away, and the middle portion expanded, while large deposits of sand were accumu- lated at the lower end by successive floods. The island became covered with cottonwood, sycamore and willows, affording a shelter to cattle and Indians, and not being definitely located in either Illinois or Missouri, offered a secluded resort for the settlement of per- sonal disputes, in compliance with the duel- istic code. To prevent the threatened ruin of St. Louis harbor, public works were pro- posed, of which a full account is given in the historical sketch of the harbor, appearing elsewhere in these volumes. It may be stated that the dyke system, as practiced in Hol- land, was strongly advocated. A dyke con- structed so as to divert the eastern channel into the main channel would, it was thought, soon clear the obstructions on the St. Louis front and open the river to navigation, and public meetings were held, in which the sub- ject was fully discussed. In 1847 ordinances were passed by the City Council of St. Louis, appropriating money and providing for work to be undertaken on the Illinois side. The St. Louis authorities and the Illinois owners of land projected a dyke, to extend from the west side of Bloody Island to the main Illi- nois shore. The cost was to be borne by St. Louis. The next year-in September, 1848- Governor French, through the State's attor- ney at Belleville, asked and was granted an injunction by the court against the work on the dyke, on the ground that it was an in- vasion of State rights of Illinois by the au- thorities of St. Louis. An appeal was taken by the latter to the Supreme Court of Illinois, by whom the question was referred to the Legislature. Delegations were sent from St. Louis to present the matter to that body, among the representatives from that city be- ing the distinguished lawyer, Blennerhassett, deputed by Mr. Sturgeon, of the City Council. The Legislature, in January, 1849, passed an act authorizing St. Louis to construct a high- way over the dyke then in process of con- struction. The road was to be forever free from toll. The necessary rights of way were to be obtained by St. Louis. Together with

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BLOOMFIELD.

this requirement, St. Louis was given all the authority necessary for the construction of cross and wing dykes upon the Illinois shore opposite St. Louis, so as to thoroughly se- cure and protect its harbor. Under this en- actment St. Louis pushed forward to com- pletion some costly dykes and embankments under the administrations of Mayors John M. Krum, James B. Barry and Luther M. Ken- nett, and Chief Engineers Henry Kayser and Major Samuel R. Curtis, the last named being subsequently the victorious commander at Pea Ridge. The main dyke was built of rock throughout, and, in the greater part of the channel to be closed, at a depth of more than forty feet of water. The stone was boated up from "Horse Tail Rock," a peculiar for- mation below Carondelet, which jutted out from the cliff and hung in a graceful curve over the river like a horse's tail. Work on the dyke progressed, and when nearly completed it was swept away by the flood of 1851, and the stone from "Horse Tail Rock" sank out of sight. After the water subsided, in the fall of 1851, another dyke was projected, one- fourth of a mile north of the first dyke and nearly parallel with it. It was laid out under the direction of Mayor Kennett and City En- gineer Curtis, and completed in 1856. Its cost was $175,000. The land belonged to the Wiggins Ferry Company. Thus the chan- nel on the Illinois side was practically closed, and by the increased velocity of the St. Louis channel, Duncan's Island was removed, and the port of St. Louis restored to its former condition. Bloody Island has become a part of East St. Louis, and the "Father of Waters" flows past in one undivided stream between its ancient banks.

Bloody Island having lost its condition as an island, the respectable portion of its popu- lation very willingly rejected and parted with the name by which it had been so long known. They were in an anomalous condi- tion for a time, with scarcely a municipal gov- ernment to control affairs and repress the lawbreakers. The original formation of the island, and its destruction as such in the man- ner related, added to its notoriety as a dueling ground, are the chief events of interest in its relation to St. Louis, and a detail of its sub- sequent civil history would be uninteresting in this connection. Suffice it to say that Bloody Island became the terminus of many railroads, and its proximity to a great city

subjected it to malign influences. It became a sort of Botany Bay for discharged vagrants from the St. Louis police courts. During the Civil War it was made a rendezvous of troops for transportation, and the marauding cle- ment overawed the citizens to such an extent that it became necessary to organize a vigi- lance committee to protect property and se- cure the maintenance of peace and order. The railroads terminating on Bloody Island designated their stations as East St. Louis. At the same time another city existed, out- side the original island, known as the city of East St. Louis. In 1865, after much opposi- tion, a charter was obtained from the Legis- lature, incorporating the last named city as the city of East St. Louis, taking within its limits the surrounding territory, including Bloody Island. The city was divided into three wards. Bloody Island was included in the third ward, it's width extending from the west bank of Cahokia Creek to the limits of the city of St. Louis, in the middle of the Mississippi River. Bloody Island thus lost its name, and, becoming merged into a new municipality, its subsequent history became identified with that of the city of East St. Louis.

WILLIAM FAYEL.

Bloomfield .- An incorporated city of the fourth class, the seat of justice of Stod- dard County, located in Castor Township, on the Missouri Southeastern Railway, 178 miles from St. Louis. It is delightfully situated and considerably elevated above the surrounding country. It was the site of an ancient Indian village. The first settlement by white men was made in 1825. The town was laid out in 1836, after the county was organized, on land donated by Absalom B. Bailey, for a seat of justice. It then comprised fifty acres. The first store in the town was run by Orson Bartlett. The first brick residence was built by Absalom B. Bailey, and Herman Reed was the pioneer hotel keeper. Prior to the war, among the business men of the town were Edmund White, storekeeper, who, in 1847, removed to New Orleans ; Henry Mil- ler, John M. Johnson, R. P. Owen and N. G. H. Jones, merchants, and Thomas Neale, tan- ner. The town was incorporated in 1856, and up to the breaking out of the Civil War was prosperous. On September 21, 1864, the town, including court and jail, was almost wholly destroyed by fire, started by guer-

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BLOOMINGTON-BLOSSOM.

rillas in the wake of Price's army. Soon after the ruined town was taken possession of by Federal troops, who erected a fort there. The ravages of war dealt a severe blow to the once thriving town, and its recovery was slow. In 1869 the town was reincorporated, and in 1870 a new courthouse was built at a cost of about $25,000. The first paper pub - lished was the "Herald," established in 1858 by . A. M. Bedford and J. O. Hill. It was dis- continued in 1861. In 1866 the "Argus" was started by James Hamilton, and published until 1873. The papers of the town at pres- ent are the "Vindicator." established in 1878, and the "Cosmos." The town has regained nich of its old-time prosperity and enter- prise. It has a bank, a fine public school, a flouring mill, cotton gin, stave factory, opera- house, two hotels, a telephone exchange, electric lights and stores in the different branches of trade, the total business popula- tion being about forty. There are three churches, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, and Catholic. The town is healthful, and its elevated position renders it a delightful residence place. Population, 1809 (estimated), 2,200.

Bloomington .- A village in Macon County, about eight miles northeast of the city of Macon. It was laid out in 1837 by order of the county court, and was made the county seat. It remained such until 1863. when the Legislature passed an act making Macon the county seat. In early days part of the town of Bloomington was called the "Box Angle." The removal of the county seat caused a decrease in its population, and at present it contains less than one hundred people. It has a public school, a church and two general stores.

Blossom, Chalmers Dwight, long identified with the Mississippi and Missouri River interests, and later with the insurance interests of St. Louis, was born January 18, 1819, in the town of Madison, Madison County. New York. Educated in the public schools of his native State, he was trained to business pursuits and emigrated to Floyd County, Indiana, in 1833. continuing to re- side there until he was twenty years of age. In the fall of 1839 he came to St. Louis, a young man, having his own way to make in the world, and found his first employment here in the Virginia Hotel, a noted, old-time

hostelry, which stood on the north side of Vine Street, between Main and Second Streets. He was connected with this hotel for three years thereafter, and then deter- mined to leave St. Louis and seek a home in the Northwest, which was then just begin- ning to attract attention and immigration. He set out for St. Paul, Minnesota, but. going by way of the Mississippi River. stopped at Galena, Illinois, at that time at the height of its prosperity as the center of a great lead-mining region. River traffic on the upper Mississippi was then beginning to assume considerable proportions, and judi- ciously forecasting the future, Mr. Blossom saw and embraced the opportunity to become a participant in the prosperity incident to this traffic. Purchasing an interest in the steamer "Monona," he turned his attention to river business exclusively, and was continuously engaged in it thereafter until 1858. In 1858 he quit the river and became secretary of the Globe Mutual Insurance Company of St. Louis, in its day one of the strongest and most popular insurance corporations in the Southwest. In 1862 he retired from business with a comfortable fortune. which has ex- panded largely in later years as a result of his judicious investments. He became a member of the Church of the Messiah during the pastorate of Rev. Dr. W. G. Eliot, and has ever since affiliated with that church. He is a veteran member of the Masonie order. having been a Mason and Knight Templar for more than forty years. In 1846 he was married to Miss Laura Ann Porter, of Floyd County. Indiana, who was a daughter of Daniel Pomeroy Porter, a native of Vermont. Mrs. Blossom's father emigrated at an early day from Vermont to Kentucky, but his aver- sion to human slavery impelled him to re- move from that State to Indiana, where he became one of the pioneers in laying the foundation of a new commonwealth.

Blossom, Henry Martyn, a leading representative of Western insurance inter- ests, was born in Madison, New York, in 1833, son of Rufus and Thirza (Farnsworth) Blossom. His father, descendant of one of the early colonists of New England, was born in eastern Massachusetts, came west late in life, and died there at an advanced age. His mother died in Indiana, in which State the fam- ily resided for some years after leaving New

305

BLOW.

York. In his boyhood Henry M. Blossom received a public school education, and while still a youth he began life on his own account. Coming to St. Louis in 1852, he became con- nected with the Missouri and Mississippi River steamboat interests as second clerk on a boat of which his brother, Captain C. D. Blossom, was the first clerk. A few years later he purchased his brother's interest in this boat, and thus became part owner and first clerk, continuing in this capacity on the "Polar Star," later on the "Morning Star," and still later on the "Hiawatha." The de- cadence of river interests caused him to change his occupation in 1860, in which year he embarked in the insurance business, in which he has ever since been engaged. He was first officially connected with the Globe Mutual Insurance Company, a local corpo- ration, as its secretary, and continued with this company up to the time of the Chicago fire. He then accepted the agencies of other companies, and began an extension of his business, which has developed into one of the great insurance agencies of the West, acting as the representative of many foreign and do- mestic companies.

Blow, Henry Taylor, manufacturer, legislator and diplomatist, was born July 15, 1817, in Southampton County, Virginia, and died in Saratoga, New York, September II, 1875. Peter Blow came with his family to St. Louis in 1830, and Henry T. Blow com- pleted his education at St. Louis University, from which institution he was graduated with distinction. For some time after his gradua- tion he read law, but then abandoned the idea of fitting himself for the bar, and turned his attention to commercial pursuits. At the age of nineteen years he became a partner with his brother-in-law, Joseph Charless, in the sale of drugs, paints and oils, and later in the manufacture of castor oil, linseed oil and white lead. In 1844 he and Mr. Charless dis- solved their partnership, Mr. Blow retaining the manufacturing business, which he ulti- mately developed into the Collier White Lead & Oil Company, of which he was president for many years, which is still in existence, and conducting one of the largest manufacturing enterprises in St. Louis, and which is now known all over the United States. At a later date Mr. Blow also became interested with his brother, Peter E. Blow, and Honorable

Ferdinand Kennett, in large lead-mining and smelting works in Newton County, Missouri. After the death of Mr. Kennett the brothers bought the interest of his estate, and after the Civil War they, with others, organized the Granby Mining & Smelting Company, which operated the works successfully for many years. Always active and influential in busi- ness circles, he was no less prominent in movements for the moral and social improve- ment of the community in which he lived. In public life he acquired national celebrity. Reared an old-line Whig, he allied himself with the elements opposed to slavery in 1854. co-operating with Frank P. Blair, B. Gratz Brown, and other distinguished Missonrians in the "Free Soil" movement. Later he be- came a Republican, and was prominent in the councils of that party until his death. In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate of Missouri, and served in that body during the four years immediately preceding the out- break of the Civil War. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Republican Conven- tion, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and when the war began he was numbered among the warmest friends of the President, and the staunchest supporters of the Union cause in Missouri. By his coun- sels and advice, by his energetic and timely action, he helped to save Missouri to the Union, and he participated actively, also, in raising and equipping troops for the inevi- table conflict. Later, in the year 1861, Presi- dent Lincoln appointed him United States minister to Venezuela, and Mr. Blow pro- ceeded to his post of duty, hoping that he might be able to advance the commercial in- terests of the Mississippi Valley and promote its trade with the South American republics. The portentous events of the war, however, concerned him so deeply that he found it im- possible to remain in a foreign country, and he resigned his mission and returned to St. Louis in 1862. In the fall of that year he was elected to the national House of Representa- tives, and two years later was re-elected to that body, serving in the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses. During his first term of service he was a member of the ways and means committee, and during the second a member of the committees on appropria- tions and reconstruction. At the end of his second term he declined to stand as a candi- date for re-election to Congress, intending to

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 54

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