Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 78

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: 800

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 78

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G. Bowdon, of Columbiana, Alabama. Mrs. Ferree's maternal grandfather was the Rev. Thomas Scott, who lived to the age of 100 years and 8 months, and who was a brother of the noted General Winfield Scott. She is also a relative of the celebrated poet, W. Francis Scott Key. Mrs. Ferree is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Ferriss, Franklin, lawyer and jurist, was born September 22, 1849, in Clinton County, New York, son of Charles and Mercy (Macomber) Ferriss. He was graduated from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in the class of 1873 and immediately after- ward came to St. Louis, where he began the study of law. Entering the St. Louis Law School, he took the degree of bachelor of laws from that institution, in 1875, and then began the practice of his profession in that city. When Judge Fisher was elected to the circuit court bench he formed a partnership with Mr. Rowell, who had previously been for many years junior member of the firm of Fisher & Rowell. The new firm became Rowell & Ferriss, and ably sustained the rep- utation which the old firm had established as one of the leading law firms of the West. As a practitioner Mr. Ferriss distinguished him- self for his comprehensive knowledge of the law and precedents, his analytical powers and the facility with which he applied the law to practical business affairs. A student of the law, he has also been a student of commercial problems, and some years since, when the tariff law known as the "Mckinley Law" went into effect, a large share of the legal business growing out of the application of this law to the collection of customs in St. Louis was intrusted to him as attorney for one of the large customs brokerage firms of that city. While still practicing law he also represented many defendants in a noted series of cases, known as "Railway Condem- nation Suits," and was remarkably successful in the conduct of this litigation. Interested also in various business enterprises, he has been no less successful as a man of affairs than as a practicing lawyer. The first official position which he held in St. Louis was that of member of the City Council, to which he was elected in 1893, accepting the office at a sacrifice of his personal interests and as a duty which he owed to the public. When the Council of that year was organized he was

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elected vice president, and throughout his term of service was recognized as one of the ablest and most efficient of the city legisla- tors. His high character as a lawyer and a man, and his eminent fitness for the exercise of judicial functions, caused him to be.nomi- nated on the Republican ticket in the fall of 1898 for judge of the Circuit Court of St. Louis, and at the ensuing election he was chosen to that office. Taking his place on the circuit bench in January following, he has proven himself a worthy successor to the able men who have graced that judicial position in earlier years. Judge Ferriss married Miss Elizabeth H. Simon, daughter of H. T. Simon, long one of the honored merchants of St. Louis. Their children are Henry T., Margery and Hugh Ferriss.

Ferry at Kansas City .- The pur- chase of the land between longitude 94 de- grees 39 seconds, and the Missouri River, called the "Platte Purchase," opened that garden spot to settlement in 1837. The movement of settlers into this new domain induced Peter Roy, a Frenchman, to estab- lish a flatboat ferry across the Missouri River at Kansas City. To make his enterprise suc- cessful he laid out a road from about the point of intersection of the present Fifteenth and Main Streets, following a ravine which afforded an easy grade, to the river at the foot of Grand Avenue. This road was sub- sequently utilized for heavy freighting. James H. McGee bought this ferry from Mr. Roy, and then sold it to John C. McCoy, who operated it till 1854. The horseboat super- ceded the flatboat, and was in turn supplanted by the modern steam ferry.

Festus .- A city in Jefferson County, on the Crystal City Railway, and the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway, thirty-five miles southwest of St. Louis. It was platted in 1878 by W. J. Adams. A portion of it was once known as Derby City. It contains Cath- olic, Christian, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, a public school and a flourmill. In 1899 the population (estimated) was 1,500.

Field, Kate .- Kate Field was born in St. Louis in 1840. She was the daughter of Joseph M. Field, one of the most versatile men who has ever lived in St. Louis-he was an actor, a dramatic critic, an editor, a theat-

rical manager, and a humorous writer. He was born in England and emigrated to the United States early in life. His daughter, Kate, was educated principally in Massachu- setts, and at sixteen was sent to Europe to complete her education by travel. While traveling in Sicily she was captured and held by brigands until her family paid a large sum of money for her ransom. In Europe she studied for the operatic stage, but the loss of her voice prevented her following her favorite career. In 1874 she appeared at Booth's Theater, New York, in "Peg Woffington," but signally failed.

She was gifted in many other ways-she spoke several languages, was a musician, a clever writer, a pleasant lecturer, and a bright woman socially. She was, beyond doubt, the foremost woman journalist the United States has as yet produced. She first attracted public attention as a newspaper correspond- ent by the analytical and aggressive tone of her letters to the "New York Tribune," the "Philadelphia Press," the "Chicago Tribune" and other papers. In the early sixties she was writing editorials for the "New York Herald" at the then phenomenal salary of $5,000 a year. In 1890 she began the publi- cation of "Kate Field's Washington," a critical, semi-literary, semi-local weekly which obtained a national reputation, but was not a financial success. It was discontinued in 1895.

In 1882 she engaged in a commercial enter- prise known as the Co-operative Dress Asso- ciation which began very auspiciously, but ended in a total bankruptcy which ever after- ward embarrassed Miss Field financially.

An intimate acquaintance, Miss Jeannette L. Gilder, writes of her (vide the "Critic" of June 6, 1896) : "She was a woman who had her enemies . . her enemies were those who did not understand her; those who did understand her were her friends. She was peculiar because it is peculiar to be plain- spoken; but she was one of the kindest- hearted women that I ever knew." She had very abrupt ways at times, however, which savored of anything but kindness. "She was a curious admixture of sentiment and assur- ance," writes Lawrence Hutton, the Harper critic (in the "Bookman" for August, 1896). "She was an indefatigable worker, quick and ready with her pen and her tongue. She was the soul of honesty and honor."

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Even her authoritative tone and her intense prejudices are cheerfully forgiven her when we consider the loneliness and bitterness of her life-which was, at best, only the contin- uous struggle of one brave, energetic and heroic woman against the whole world.

Miss Field contributed largely to the lead- ing Eastern magazines. Her published books were: "Planchette's Diary," "Adelaide Ris- torio," and "Mad on Purpose, a Comedy," all in 1868; "Pen Photographs of Charles Dick- ens' Readings" (about 1869) ; "Hap-Hazard" (1873); "Ten Days in Spain" (1875); "The History of Bell's Telephone" (1878), and a book on Walter Savage Landor. She died in Honolulu, on May 19, 1896, and was buried there. The desire of her friends to have her body removed to the United States seems to have been abandoned since the Sandwich Islands have become American soil.

ALEXANDER N. DE MENIL.

Field, Roswell M .- It is always inter- esting to know something of the ancestry of men who became eminent in any line of labor. We all know that physical, intellectual and moral qualities and temperaments are more or less inherited, and that inherited traits more frequently determine character than environments or surroundings. This principle is well illustrated in the family of Mr. Field. His father, Martin Field, was born in Massachusetts in 1773, graduated from Williams College, studied law and set- tled in Newfane, Vermont, where he married Esther Smith Kellogg, a woman of marked ability and noble character. Martin Field was a prominent and successful lawyer, of ready wit and humor, and a persuasive advocate. His acquirements and learning, outside of his profession, were varied and of a high order. In his later life he became proficient in the sciences, especially in mineralogy, geology and chemistry.

Of these parents Roswell M. Field was born, at Newfane, Vermont, February 22, 1807. Having fitted for college under the tutelage of Rev. Luke Whitcomb, of Town- shend, Vermont, he, with an elder brother, entered Middlebury College in the fall of 1818, and he graduated at the age of fifteen years, studied law and was admitted to prac- tice at the age of eighteen, and practiced in his native County of Windham until his set- tlement in St. Louis in 1839. While still in

Vermont he twice represented his native town in the General Assembly of his native State, and made an able report to the Legis- lature in favor of abrogating the rule of the common law which excluded atheists from testifying in courts of justice. His recom- mendation was not adopted at the time, but was enacted into a law in 1854. For a few years after his settlement in St. Louis he was a partner of Miron Leslie, also from Ver- mont and a man of great natural ability and thoroughly read in his profession. On the dissolution of the firm of Leslie & Field, Mr. Field practiced alone until his death in 1869. He was justly considered as standing in the front rank of the bar of the city and State. At the time Mr. Field came to St. Louis there was much litigation growing out of the acts of Congress in relation to Spanish and French titles to lands, and he made a special study of these grants and the acts of Con- gress in regard to them, and the better to understand them he studied the French and Spanish languages, so as to read in the origi- nal grants and laws governing them. He was already a fine classical scholar, and he ac- quired also the German language. He was for some time the attorney of the school board, in whose charge were liberal dona- tions of land, made by Congress for the sup- port of schools in the city, and was instru- mental in recovering for their benefit many of the donations so given. He brought and tried in the United States Circuit Court the . celebrated Dred Scott case, which, on ap- peal to the United States Supreme Court, he turned over to Montgomery Blair, then residing in Washington. During the Civil War he was a staunch supporter of the Union and co-operated with Generals Lyon and Blair and others, and was largely instrument- al in retaining the State of Missouri in al- legiance to the government. He was, in 1865, offered by the then Governor a commission as judge of the Supreme Court, but declined the position, which he would have adorned and dignified, preferring the quiet of pri- vate life. He was a splendid specimen of physical manhood, being over six feet tall, well proportioned, and of dignified and im- posing presence. In his social relations he was genial and entertaining, unsurpassed in conversational powers, delighting in witty and humorous remarks, was elegant in his manners, affable and refined in his deport-

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ment, and to his other accomplishments add- ed that of the skillful musician. Upon the death of Mr. Field, in 1869, the members of the St. Louis bar passed resolutions embody- ing their views of his life, character and services, which were presented to the Su- preme Court of the State.

In 1848 Mr. Field married Miss Frances Reed, a native of Vermont, and a young lady of lovely disposition, character and manners. There were born to them two sons, who grew to manhood. The elder of these sons, Eugene Field, poet and journalist, was born in St. Louis, September 3, 1850, and died in Chicago, Illinois, November 4, 1895. On the death of their mother in 1856 the two sons were sent by their father to Amherst, Massachusetts, to be cared for and brought up by their cousin, Miss Mary Field French. Living thus in New England until the age of nineteen, Eugene imbibed New England ideas and tastes which left lasting impres- sions upon his life and character that crop- ped out in and colored his subsequent writings. He first entered Williams College, Massachusetts, but on the death of his father in 1869 he was placed under the guardianship of Professor John W. Burgess, of Amherst College, who had married his cousin, Miss Jones. Soon afterward Professor Burgess ac- cepted a professorship in Knox College, at Galesburg, Illinois, and took Eugene with him and placed him in that college. His younger brother, Roswell M. Field, Jr., had been placed by his father in his lifetime in the Missouri State University, at Columbia, Missouri, and Eugene, being under no spe- cial restraint, joined his brother at the uni- versity and there remained until, on coming of age, he left without graduating and spent a year in traveling in Europe. Upon his return he began his career as a journalist, first in St. Louis, then in St. Joseph, Mis- souri; afterward was for a time on the Kansas City "Times," and then took a po- sition on the Denver "Tribune," Colorado. There he came in contact with the mining element of the Rocky Mountains, whose pe- culiarities he has graphically painted in sev- eral of his poems, notably in "Casey's Table d'Hote" and "The Conversazhyony." He afterward removed to Chicago and entered the service of the Chicago "News" and "Record," where he was employed until his death. On those papers he filled from one

to two columns daily, under the heading of "Flats and Sharps," and acquired much prominence as a writer of humorous and wit- ty paragraphs, many of which were largely copied in newspapers throughout the coun- try. About 1889 he published two volumes, one entitled "A Little Book of Western Verse," and the other "A Little Book of Profitable Tales," which were received with great favor by the public, and at once gave him a national reputation. A second book of verse was published in 1892, with a beautiful dedication to his wife. This was followed by "The Holy Cross, and Other Tales." In 1893 the two brothers published, as their joint work, translations from the "Odes of Horace," entitled "Echoes from the Sabine Farm." In this work Eugene took special pride, for the reason that his father was a great admirer of the Latin poet, and Eugene imagined that his father, if he had known of their study of the writings of Horace, would have been pleased and complimented thereby. "Love Songs of Childhood" was published in 1894. After his death were pub- lished "The House" and "The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac." His entire works have been published in ten volumes by · Charles Scribner's Sons, and have had a large sale, and have taken a strong hold upon the pub- lic mind, and are admired by all classes of readers-the highly cultivated as well as the common people, and especially the young. His portrayal of the feelings and sports of childhood has touched the juvenile heart and made him the idol of the children. He has been appropriately styled the "Poet Laureate of Children." His humor, pathos, tenderness and love of child life have made him the fa- vorite not only of children, but of adults as well. Many of his songs have been set to music and become popular, enjoying a large sale. His early death at the age of forty-five called forth from the press of the country expressions of sorrow for his loss, and af- fection and love for him personally, such as few men have received. His writings exalt and honor the innocence and virtues of child- hood and the home, beget a reverence for the purity and loveliness of womanhood and motherhood, and inspire a love for the un- selfish and religious feelings of our human nature. ROSWELL M. FIELD, JR., the second son of Roswell M. and Frances (Reed) Field, like his brother Eugene, en-

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tered the field of journalism, and has done excellent work on the Kansas City "Times," then on the "Star" of Kansas City, and on the New York "World," and is now engaged on the Chicago "Evening Post." He is a strong and forceful writer, and has a thor- ough command of the English language. In addition to joining his brother in poetical translations of the "Odes of Horace," in the work entitled "Echoes from the Sabine Farm," he has published a volume of sketches and tales illustrative of Kansas life, entitled "In the Sunflower Land." This work exhibits a literary taste and a command of the English language of a high order, and gives promise of further authorship, in which, it is understood, he is now engaged.

Field, William Stanton, physician, was born in 1864, at Newmarket, Platt Coun- ty, Missouri. His parents were George W. and Lucy E. (Duncan) Field. The father, now deceased, a native of Kentucky, was an early settler in Platte County ; he was a physi- cian, and during the Civil War he had the care of almost the entire population in his neighborhood, and his ministrations were so acceptable that he was respected alike by Federals and Confederates and allowed to travel at will. The mother, a native of Vir- ginia, is yet living, and passes her time among her children. Three of their sons be- came physicians : Dr. William S. located in Kansas City, Missouri; Dr. George J. at Eureka, Utah, and Dr. John T. at St. Joseph, Missouri. William S. completed his literary education at Bethany College, West Virginia, and then took a full course in Eastman's Commercial College, at Poughkeepsie, New York. During several years he studied medi- cine under the tutorship of his father and brothers, and then entered the University Medical College, at Kansas City, from which institution he was graduated in 1895, and im- mediately entered upon general practice in the same city. He has no connection with medical colleges or professional fraternal so- cieties, and devotes his attention entirely to the service of a large and influential class who hold him in high esteem for ability and conscientious fidelity to professional duties. In politics he is a Democrat. Dr. Field was married in 1897 to Miss Laura Johnson, daughter of the late Dr. F. M. Johnson, of Kansas City. She was liberally educated at

academies at St. Joseph and Liberty, Mis- souri. She is an accomplished art student, and has executed much meritorious work in painting on canvas and china, in repousse work in brass, and in decorative work in leather and wood.

Filley, Chauncey Ives, distinguished as a politician, was born in Lansingburg, New York, in 1829. He received an academ- ic education and then entered a law school in Saratoga County, New York, for two years. In 1850 he came to St. Louis and first clerked in the glassware and chinaware store of E. A. & S. R. Filley, who were his near relatives. He became a partner in this firm in 1855 and was identified with it until 1858. Later he was engaged in the earthenware trade until 1873. His political antecedents were Democratic, but notwithstanding this fact, his first vote in St. Louis was cast for a Whig candidate for mayor of the city. Dur- ing the Civil War he was an ardent Unionist, and in 1863 he was nominated by what was known as the Republican-Emancipation Con- vention for mayor of St. Louis. He was elect- ed and served as mayor until 1864. From that time forward he was recognized as one of the leaders of the Republican party in Mis- souri. He attended the National Republican Convention which nominated Abraham Lin- coln for the presidency, in 1860, and was a delegate to the convention which renominat- ed Lincoln at Baltimore in 1864. In 1868 he was an elector on the Grant presidential tick- et, and thereafter sat as delegate in every Republican National Convention up to and including that of 1892. He first became a member of the Missouri State Republican central committee in 1868, and was made chairman of that committee in 1876. In 1872 he was the chief organizer of the Republican party in Missouri, and in 1880 again became chairman of the State committee. He held that position thereafter almost continuously until 1898. He was also Missouri's repre- sentative on the national Republican com- mittee from 1876 until 1892. He was ap- pointed postmaster of St. Louis in 1873 and filled that office until 1878.

Filley, Giles F., manufacturer, was born in Simsbury, now Bloomfield, Connecti- cut, February 15, 1815, and died February 27, 1900, in St. Louis. He came to St. Louis in

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1834, when he was nineteen years of age, to enter the employ of his brother, Oliver D. Filley, who had become a resident of that city in 1829. Under his brother's supervision he learned the tinner's trade, and later became a partner with him in the business of manu- facturing tinware, which he continued until 1841. He then transferred his interest in this business to his brother, and from that time until 1849 was engaged in the crockery trade, operating successfully in both these fields of enterprise and having accumulated consider- able capital, when he established the business with which his name was later so prominently identified. In 1849 Mr. Filley sold out his crockery business and established what was long known as the Excelsior Stove Works, for the manufacture of stoves and all the ap- purtenances thereto. Starting with a com- paratively small plant, which employed at first about twenty-five moulders and twenty men in other departments, these works were expanded from time to time until several hundred men were employed regularly and two whole blocks of ground were occupied by the foundry and machine shops. The busi- ness was incorporated in 1865, under the name of the Excelsior Manufacturing Com- pany, a name which became known through- out the United States and under which the works continued to be operated until 1895, when it was succeeded by the Charter Oak Range & Iron Company, still in existence. The kindly instincts of his heart, as well as his education and environments in youth, made him the uncompromising opponent of human slavery, and he was one of the or- ganizers of the "Free Soil" or Liberty party in Missouri in 1848. At that time he assist- ed in establishing a newspaper organ of the "Free Soil" party in St. Louis, and in later years was one of the founders also of the "Union" newspaper, the staunch champion of President Lincoln's administration during the Civil War. The "Union" was succeeded by the "Dispatch," in which Mr. Filley was also a stockholder, and this paper was in turn succeeded by the present "Post-Dispatch." He was intimately associated with Frank P. Blair and other distinguished Missourians in the effort to build up a "Free Soil" party in that State, and cast one of the four electoral votes given by Missouri for John C. Fre- mont, as a candidate for President of the United States. During the Civil War he was

one of the most ardent Unionists in St. Louis, and one of the ablest and most influential supporters of the efforts of the national ad- ministration to suppress the secession move- ment. Mr. Filley married at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1844, Miss Maria M. Far- rington, also of New England parentage, and nine sons were born of their union, six of whom were living in 1897, Frank D. Filley, Charles H. Filley, Robert E. Filley, Christo- pher G. Filley and Victor G. Filley.

Filley, Oliver Dwight, was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut, May 23, 1806, and died in St. Louis, August 21, 1881. His father was a tinner, and he was reared to that trade. In 1833 he came to St. Louis and pursued his vocation until the following year, when his brother, Giles F. Filley, came to St. Louis also, and the two went into partnership in the stove manufacturing and tinware business, in which both became suc- cessful and wealthy. He was the eldest of the Filley family in St. Louis, and was recog- nized as its representative head. During his active life he was a citizen of great influence, and his counsel was constantly sought on public matters, municipal affairs, and ques- tions of business, and he was held in the highest esteem. He was for a time director in the Bank of the State of Missouri, and resolutely opposed the policy of recognizing and dealing in the doubtful currency that pre- vailed in the West prior to 1857. He was a personal and political friend of Thomas H. Benton, and on the occasions of the distin- guished statesman's return to St. Louis from Washington, he was accustomed to call at Mr. Filley's business office, on Main Street, and give him his first greeting. Mr. Filley was an equally sturdy friend and supporter of General Frank P. Blair. In 1858 he was chosen mayor, and gave an administration marked by probity and great municipal pros- perity. During the Civil War he was con- spicuous for his zealous Unionism, support- ing the cause with his counsel and his purse at a time when it was in need of both. He was as generous and fair as he was zealous and devoted, and his thorough Unionism did not prevent him from condemning the assess- ment of Southern sympathizers during the war. He was married to Chloe Varina Brown at Bloomfield, Connecticut, in 1835, and at his death left six children, two sons, Oliver Filley

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 78

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: 800

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: 800