History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 60

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 60

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As already stated, the shipment of lead from St. Louis southward and eastward was a very important part of its early eommerec. Part of the lead thus shipped was for many years returned to the West in the shape of white lead from Eastern factories, but between 1837 and 1850 the manufacture of white lead and of oil from the eastor-bean was established in St. Louis. The well-known firm of Charless & Blow were among the pioneers of this industry. In 1850 their factory was destroyed by fire, and the heavy loss thus sustained threatened the business with ruin. But it was re-established by the incorporation, in September, 1851, of the Collier White Lead and Oil Company, to the capital of which Mr. Collier was the largest single contributor, the active management remaining in the hands of the Hon. Henry T. Blow. The prosperous career of this important industry has more than verified the anticipations of those who, like Mr. Collier, believed that the future prosperity of St. Louis would depend largely upon her manufactures.

In 1845 was held at Memphis the first Inter-State River and Harbor Convention, an assemblage made famous by the presidency of John C. Calhoun. It was Mr. Calhoun himself' who-in reference to the question of constitutional power on the part of the Federal government to make sueli improvements-

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there first applied to the great rivers of the West a designation which instantly became famous, that of " inland seas." It was more than a picturesque phrase : it was an argument in a word, it was the solution of a grave constitutional question. At this convention the commercial interests of St. Louis were represented by a delegation of twenty-five of her most prominent citizens, of whom George Collier was one.

He was also a member of the first board of direc- tors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, having been one of those who first met for the purpose of organizing and procuring its incorporation.

In February, 1851, the Mercantile Library Hall Association of St. Louis was incorporated by spceial aet for the express purpose of crecting, and soon after did ereet, for the use of the St. Louis Mercantile Li- brary Association, the large building at the southwest corner of Fifth and Loeust Streets, still occupied by the latter. In this publie enterprise Mr. Collier took great interest, not only subscribing liberally, but giving still more important advice and assistance in planning and prosecuting the work.

He was for many years a trustee of the Second Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev. Dr. William A. Potts was the eminent and beloved pastor.

It is not within the purpose of this sketch, even did its limits permit, to dwell upon the personal qual- ities which not only commanded the highest respect and confidenee of his associates and of the community at large, but won the tender affection of those who knew him best. Always gentle and courtcous in man- ner and of few words, his demeanor even under trying circumstances was singularly ealm and self- possessed, while his conduct indicated great prompt- ness and decision of character. His accurate judg- ment of men has already been mentioned. To this was united a cordial and sympathetic interest in young men who proved themselves worthy of confidenec, which in many instances, long held in grateful re- membranee, slowed itself by timely and generous aid in mnoncy and eredit. No trait of his was recalled more warmly by those from whom these reminiseenecs have been obtained than the frequent and liberal as- sistance afforded by him, often unsought, to those whose character was his only security.

Mr. Collier's political affiliations were always with the Whig party. If he had ever indulged any aspi- rations for public life, the uniform and overwhelming preponderance in Missouri of the Democratic party would have rendered them hopeless. He was always averse, however, to notoriety of any sort, and uni- formly deelincd or avoided even the temptation to leave the quiet walks of private life.

Early in 1852 his health, which had long been del- ieate, began to fail steadily, and a lingering illness terminated in his death at his house in St. Louis on the 18th of July, 1852, at the comparatively carly age of fifty-six.

Mr. Collier was twiee married. His first wife, Miss Françoise E. Morrison, whom he married on Jan. 1, 1826, at St. Charles, Mo., dicd Aug. 30, 1835, leaving a daughter and an infant son. In 1838 he married Miss Sarah A. Bell, eldest daughter of the late William Bell, of Pittsburgh, Pa., who still survives him. Of this marriage five sons and one daughter survived him. Both daughters are still liv- ing in St. Louis. The elder in 1857 became the wife of Henry Hitchcock, a leading member of the St. Louis bar. The younger in 1866 married Ethan A. Hitchcock, then a partner in the American house of Olyphant & Co. in China, where he. continued to reside till his retirement from that firm in 1872. Sinee 1875 he lias resided in St. Louis, holding high positions of business trust.

Five sons of Mr. Collier attained manliood, only two of whom now survive. One of these, William B. Collier, is a resident of California. The other, Maurice Dwight Collier, was admitted to the bar in St. Louis in 1869, aud has since pursued his profes- sion with diligence and promise of sucecss. During part of this time he was a diligent and influential member of the City Council, and in 1876 was elected a member of the board of freeholders, thirteen in number, who framed the present city charter of St. Louis.

The works of the St. Louis Lead and Oil Company were erccted in the spring of 1865, and are located on North Second Street at the corner of Cass Avenue. In addition to the manufacture of white lead, the company gives a large share of attention to producing litharge, red lead, linseed-oil, eastor-oil, and cotton-seed oil. The works consume annually the enormous amount of one thousand tons of pig-lcad, in addition to fifty thousand bushels of castor-beans, one hundred thousand bushels of flaxseed, and forty-five thousand bushels of cotton-secd. The works of the company alone eost nearly two hun- dred thousand dollars, and have a frontage of nearly six hundred feet on Second Street. They have eigh- teen stacks, holding each five thousand pots aud forty thousand pounds of metal. As many as eighty-five men are given employment at these works, to whom the company pay about sixty thousand dollars annually.

The Southern White Lead and Color Company erected its works in the fall of 1865. They are situ- atcd at the corner of Main and Lombard Streets. The company devotes its attention almost wholly to the

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production of white lead, and its brands, like those of all other St. Louis works, have already gained an enviable reputation, especially throughout the Southern and Southwestern States. Its lot has a frontage of two hundred and fifteen feet on Main Street and one hundred feet on Lombard Street. The works have twenty stacks of a capacity of five thousand pots each, ten pounds of lead to a pot. The consumption of pig- lead is twelve hundred tons yearly, the supply being obtained from Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and also Germany. The product of the Granby mines in Mis- souri is as highly esteemed as that of any other State in this country or of Europe, but good metal is not always to be had in large enough quantities at home, and hence the company is compelled to go abroad.

Iron .- " Here is the centre of the world's trade, here is the future metropolis of the world's empire, in the favored child of the mighty valley of the Mississippi, the City of the Iron Crown."1 This declaration ecases to be hyperbole when St. Louis is regarded as the centre of that iron region " where they have enough ore (iron) to run one hundred furnaces for one thousand years." With Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, Shepherd Moun- tain, Simmons' Mountain, and thousands of other deposits to glut the forges of the future, St. Louis eannot fail to become the grandest iron work-shop in the world. " Concentrated in a limited arca, sur- rounded on all sides by the grandest agricultural dis- triet of the globe, with unlimited supplies of coal, with timber and water-power unsurpassed upon the continent, with a genial climate and healthy homes for the operatives, and their food cheaply produced almost at their doors, with the world for a market, and transportation facilities for reaching its most dis- tant point, it is not difficult to see a prosperous future for a section so happily situated and so richly en- dowed," and even exaggeration seems impossible in forecasting the future prospects of a city which is the eentre and the commercial and manufacturing me- tropolis of a country so favored with natural advan- tages.

As early as September, 1814, D. Stewart, on Main Street, adjoining the store of T. Hunt & Co. and opposite the dwelling of William C. Carr, “ manu- factured all kinds of cut nails, brads, sprigs," and sold them at the following prices : 6d., 7d., 8d., 10d., 12d., and 20d. at twenty cents per pound ; 4d. at twenty-five cents per pound. He sold the best quan- tity of bar-iron at fourteen cents per pound, or twelve and a half eents by the ton. The establishment of iron

foundries in St. Louis, it is believed, antedates the mining of the ores, and may be regarded as having been begun in 1817, when Lewis Newell landed in the then thriving village and commenced the business of blacksmithing, giving special attention to the mak- ing of edge tools. His fame soon spread abroad as a great axe-maker. At this time St. Louis was an im- portant centre of the fur trade of the West; the de- mand for wolf-traps, beaver-traps, and squaw-axes was very considerable, and Newell soon made a specialty of the manufacture of these implements, the produe- tion of a good quality of which brought him at once wealth and a wider fame. About that time, too, the old French eart began to be superseded by the Yan- kee wagon, all the cast-iron hub-boxes for which had to be brought from Pittsburgh, as indeed all other iron eastings. Then it was that the idea of founding first entered the brain of the first St. Louis founder. Newell saw that if he could make the hub-boxes he could make a wagon out and out, thus saving a heavy expense in their manufacture and adding greater facil- ity to their production, an improvement much to be desired by the farmers and settlers around St. Louis. Newell raeked his brain for a plan to overcome the in- convenience of having to import wagon-boxes. He was not a practical iron founder, but his genius and in- domitable courage made up for the want. Having completed a pattern, he went to work with a common blacksmith's forge to make wagon-boxes, and melted his iron and moulded them with perfeet success. This was the first melting of iron west of the Mississippi River. For four years Newell proceeded with this slow process to turn out boxes for the wagons he made.

In October, 1828, Samuel Gaty arrived in St. Louis, in company with John A. Morton, Jr., and a young Welshman named Richards. When they ar- rived in St. Louis there was no foundry in the city. There was, however, a frame building which parties from Cincinnati had erceted with the intention of starting a foundry, but not being able to work the coal, had abandoned the project. In this building, near Second and Cherry Streets, Gaty and his friends started a small foundry ; but the partnership (for which Gaty furnished the eash capital) was not for- tunate, and in a few months Gaty and Morton were in- dueed to sell out to Col. Martin Thomas, who subse- quently leased the works to Peter MeQueen, of New York. Gaty was out of work for a while, for McQueen had a poor idea of Western mechanics, and preferred (as he said) skilled men from the East, yet on two occasions Gaty showed his aptness and skill in a re- markable way. McQueen was asked to make a new

1 Address by Charles P. Johnson, of St. Louis, before the State Immigration Convention, April 13, 1880.

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shaft for the steamer " Jubilee." He said his men could make the pattern and mould one, but, having been used only to a cupola, could not well melt the iron in an air-furnace. Gaty, however, undertook the job of melting the iron, and got a fine casting. But it was then found that there was not a geared lathe in the city to turn the shaft with. Gaty was again appealed to, and with two eog-wheels he very soon rigged up sufficient power to turn the shaft by hand.

In the spring of 1830, Scott & Rule, then the largest merchants in St. Louis, and also among the largest property-holders, proposed building a foun- dry for Lewis Newell, they to hold the eoneern in their name, Newell having failed in business and being at the time insolvent. After completing his agreement with Scott & Rule, Newell wrote to Samuel Gaty, who had gone to Louisville, Ky., to return to St. Louis and enter into business with him. Gaty accepted, and in November, 1830, came back to St. Louis, and superintended the building of the foundry, the money for which was furnished by Scott & Rule. A site for the foundry was selected on the west side of Main Street, between Cherry and Morgan, and during the winter Gaty prepared the foundation for the intended building, and in the spring he, with his own hands, dug up the fire-elay for the bricks for the furnace, moulded them himself, and built the furnace, which was finished in the spring of 1831. On July 4th he took the first heat, and the first eastings were for Capt. John C. Swon, of the steamcr " Carroll- ton," and were of excellent quality. Gaty & Newell worked the furnace for a while with great success, but it was destined to a short life, for in the win- ter of 1831-32, Seott & Rule became involved, and made an assignment to James Woods, of Pittsburgh. This swept everything from Gaty & Newell. But young Gaty, undismaycd by misfortune, and with a determination that could not fail of any reasonable undertaking, rented the foundry from Woods and went to work; and from that time fortune smiled on him, as it always does on brave, industrious men who are determined to succeed. Newell had an interest in the eoneern. The business prospered and the foun- dry was inereased in capacity, making all kinds of engines and machinery.

In 1832, Felix Coonee became a partner in the foundry, and the firm was known as Gaty, Coonce & Co. In 1838, Newell sold his interest to Capt. Beltz- hoover, and in 1840, Beltzhoover sold again to A. H. Glasby. In 1841, Coonee sold his interest to John S. MeCune, who came from Pike County, Mo., where he had just sold out a mill and country store, which he bought with money the proceeds of the sale

of a vein of lead ore that he had recently struck at Galena. The firm was then styled Gaty, McCune & Co.

In 1849, Gerard B. Allen was admitted to the firm, which then became Gaty, MeCunc & Co. Later, James Collins, William H. Stone, and Amos Howc were admitted, and this firm continued until July. 1862, when it dissolved, and Gaty and McCune retired from the foundry business.

In all these changes Mr. Gaty, although surrounded by very capable men, was at the head of the estab- lishment and was its controlling mind. He started with a little air-furnace of four tons' capacity, and presided over the development of a business which in a few years grew to enormous proportions, the foun- dry being in its day one of the most extensive manu- facturing establishments of its class in the whole val- ley of the Mississippi, and occupying a whole square, bounded by Main, Second, Cherry, and Morgan Streets. Much of this block of land Mr. Gaty still owns, and it is covered with large and costly build- ings.

After the retirement of Mr. Gaty in 1862, James Collins, who had been connected with the establish- ment sinee 1833, with the exception of a brief retire- ment in 1860, became one of the principal proprietors and manager of the works.

Mr. Collins had been employed in the capacity of foreman and superintendent until 1853, when he bought the remaining interest of Mr. Glasby, and the success that attended this foundry is in no small measure the result of Mr. Collins' unwearying labors in its superintendenee.

James Collins was so thoroughly identified with the iron interests of St. Louis that a brief sketch of his career will not be out of place. He was born in Canada West in the year 1818, and at nine years of age was left an orphan, without friends, means, or education. He was apprenticed to the firm of Sheldon & Dutchcr, iron founders, of Toronto, where he soon mastered the business of founding and engine-build- ing. At the age of sixteen hc came to the United States, and soon after started a small foundry in Buf- falo for Judge Williamson, and superintended it for about four months, when he was taken with the Western fever, came to St. Louis in 1833, and com- meneed work for Gaty, Coonee & Co. in their foun- dry, with which firm he was identified for twenty- eight years, in 1853 (as stated) becoming a part owner. Under this partnership the foundry was run until 1860, when Mr. Collins retired, and in July, 1862, the eopartnership of the firm expired by limi- tation, when its affairs were wound up and the fixtures

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and machinery sold, Mr. Collins becoming one of the chief purchasers, eventually putting the machinery, patterns, etc., into the Broadway Foundry, with which he afterwards became connected.

In 1837, Hudson E. Bridge arrived in St. Louis, and in company with Messrs. Hale and Samuel S. Rayburn began the manufacture of plows. Mr. Hale dying soon after, the business was continued by Bridge & Rayburn, and the department of stoves and hollow- ware was added. In a short time French Rayburn, a younger brother of Samuel S. Rayburn, came to St. Louis and was admitted into partnership with Bridge & Rayburn, which caused a marked increase in their business.

French Rayburn was born in Montgomery County, Va., Jan. 5, 1815. His ancestors, who were of Scot- tish origin, settled in the north of Ireland several centuries ago. His grandfather on the paternal side emigrated from Ireland and settled in Virginia in the latter part of the seventeenth century. James Ray- burn, the father of French Rayburn, was a prominent citizen of Montgomery County. He was for many years judge of Probate Court, was sheriff of the county, and held other positions of public trust. IIc died in December, 1814, some two or three weeks before the birth of his son French. His wife, Nancy Watterson (née Shanklin), at the time of her second marriage was mother by her first husband of one child, William S. Watterson, who was the father of Harvey M. Watterson, who represented Tennessee for many years in the lower house of Congress, and the grandfather of the brilliant Henry Watterson, of the Louisville Courier-Journal. She died in the month of July, 1835, venerable in years and the mother of twelve children, only one of whom, the youngest, French Rayburn, is still living. Mr. Ray- burn acquired the best education the times afforded in the excellent schools of Bedford County, Tenn. His business life began at Nashville, Tenn., under the care and direction of his brother Samuel, who was of the firm of Mitchell & Rayburn, and after the dissolution of that firm, and when he was seventeen years of age, Robert and James Woods (who were near relatives), of the firm of James Woods & Co., took him into their house, and manifested a father's interest in him. They were engaged in the banking business at Nashville, and also owned and operated the extensive Cumberland Iron-Works, under the firm-name of Joseph Woods & Co. In 1833 they opened an iron house in St. Louis for the sale of the products of their iron-works, and placed Samuel S. Rayburn, an elder brother of French Rayburn, in charge. French, however, won their esteem and con-

fidence to such an extent that in 1834 they sent him to St. Louis and associated him with his brother in the management of the iron house.

Samuel S. Rayburn was one of the most prominent and successful business men of St. Louis. He was a director for many years, vice-president, and during the absence of its president, John B. Smith, in Europe acting president of the famous old State Bank of Missouri, of which Robert A. Barnes was afterwards president. He founded the house of Bridge, Ray- burn & Co. (associating with him Hudson E. Bridge and Titus Hale), for the manufacturing of stoves, etc. He died in Bedford County, Tenn., in 1849. His daughter Victoria, an only child, was reared and edu- cated by Mr. and Mrs. French Rayburn, and was married to Lieut. George R. Bissell, a son of the late Capt. Lewis Bissell, of St. Louis, who now resides in Oakland, Cal.

French Rayburn married in May, 1841, Catherine, eldest daughter of Samuel and Margaret (née Beltz- hoover) Stacker. Samuel Stacker was born in Penn- sylvania, near Philadelphia, and was of German par- entage. He removed to Pittsburgh, where he married Miss Margaret Beltzhoover, whose parents, also of German extraction, belonged to one of the prominent families of Pennsylvania. He built the first bridge over the Cumberland River at Nashville, and after- wards, in connection with his brother John, erceted and operated the Lafayette Furnace, on the Cum- berland River, in which business he amassed a fortune. He and his brother sold their furnace property in 1834, and purchased of Joseph Woods & Co. an in- terest in the Cumberland Iron-Works, near Fort Don- elson, the firm becoming Woods, Stacker & Co. Samuel Stacker had entire charge of the rolling-mill and furnaces, and by his practical and careful manage- ment brought the works to a higher state of efficiency and prosperity than they had ever attained before.

He died Dee. 28, 1859, at the close of a successful and honorable life, and lies buried beside his wife at old Lafayette Furnace, Tenn.

In 1842, Mr. Rayburn retired from the management of the iron house in St. Louis, and in the following year moved to the farm where he now resides, which he had purchased in 1842. He has resided continu- ously on this farm, with the exception of two years (from 1845 to 1847), during which he built the Stacker Company Furnace, on the Cumberland River, Tennessee, and manufactured pig-iron.

Mr. Rayburn had four children,-Samuel S., born Dec. 14, 1842 ; Cora Rebecca, born Dec. 10, 1844 ; Mary Elsie, born Oct. 30, 1854 ; and Catherine French, born Aug. 17, 1860. Cora died Dee. 30, 1859, at

French Rayburn

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ..

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the age of fifteen, and Mary Elsie Jan. 7, 1869, aged fourteen. Their loss, just as they were budding into beautiful womanhood, was a severe blow to their parents. Mrs. Rayburn died April 26, 1881, after a lingering illness of over a year, and is buried in the family lot in Bellefontaine Cemetery. Her character was both strong and gentle, and her retired disposi- tion made her home life remarkable for wifely and motherly virtues. In society she exhibited the eul- ture of a refined lady and the virtues of a Christian woman.

Mr. Rayburn has always been a pronouneed Dem- oerat, but never a politieian, only onee consenting to hold eleetive office, when, in 1858, he served as a member of the Missouri Legislature, which was nota- ble for its frequent adjournments and extra sessions, during the incumbeney of Governor Robert Stewart. He held the position of chairman of two committees, -Banks and Corporations and Committee on Ae- eounts. During the war he was elceted a director of the State Bank, which position he declined.

For twenty-five years he has been a member of the Southern Methodist Church of Bellefontaine, holding many positions of trust, and contributing liberally towards its maintenance.

He is sixty-eight years of age, and a fine repre- sentative of the pioneers to whose honor and keeping was confided the destiny of St. Louis City and County.

In 1837 all manufactures of iron were brought from the Ohio River. Hudson E. Bridge, however, conecived that the cost might be lessened by hav- ing the plates manufactured on the Tennessee River and put together in his own shop, and this was the first innovation. But this did not satisfy him. With only the experience in iron manufacture ae- quired in Springfield, he determined to make the plates in St. Louis, and in 1838 a little foundry was established in connection with his store. Old stove dealers warned the young man, then only twenty-eight years of age, of his folly in endeavoring to compete with the older manufactures of Cincinnati, and of the failure that must inevitably follow. But Mr. Bridge soon found that by. careful ceonomy the cost of manufacture was less than the cost of bringing from the East. At this time he was his own fore- man and salesman by day, and his own book-keeper at night, and though of very humble pretensions in comparison with the establishment of to-day, the foundation was thus laid of the Empire Stove-Works, which was destined to become one of the largest and best-known manufacturing enterprises of the Missis- sippi valley.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 60

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358