USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 83
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H. PATTERSON,
of the firm of Patterson, Noyes & Co., wholesale dealers in and manu- facturers of boots and shoes, was born August 25, 1831, near St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised a farmer. In 1849 he left for California, return- ing in August, 1851. He engaged in the general merchandise business at Oregon, Holt County, in August, 1853. In September, 1857, he moved to Forest City, continuing in same line until 1871. In the meantime he was in business at Corning and Falls City, Nebraska. In 1872 he came to St. Joseph and engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe business. Mr. Patterson's father came to Missouri whilst it was under Spanish govern- ment. The family is one of the very first American families landing in
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Missouri. St. Louis was then a French trading post. The Chouteau families were there as traders. There were about twelve houses or cab- ins at St. Louis. Mr. Patterson was married in 1857 to Miss Mary E. Bevan, a native of Virginia. They have raised five children. He is a Mason and member of the M. E. Church (south). The above firm is suc- cessor to Buck, McCoun & Patterson, which was established in 1872. They control the labor of the Missouri penitentiary, and make a specialty of manufacturing at the prison and St. Joseph, employing nineteen men in the wholesale department and work about two hundred men in the penitentiary. Their business room is thirty by one hundred and forty feet, four floors high. They make a specialty of standard screw work.
JOEL JOHNS PENICK,
was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia April 19, 1808, and was consequently in the seventy-first year of his age at the time of his death. He went to Kentucky at the age of nine, and was raised in Greene and Breckenridge Counties. He came to Missouri at the age of nineteen, and was married May 1, 1828, in Boone County, to Miss Sophia B. Ridgeway, who (1881) survives him. Mr. Penick came to the Platte Purchase, July 10, 1837, and settled at West Point, a small village four- teen miles due south of St. Joseph. There were then not more than a half dozen families in the Purchase, and soon afterward Mr. Penick was made postmaster at West Point, the first appointment, by the way, in the Platte Purchase. He was engaged in merchandising at West Point for twelve years, and removed thence to St. Joseph. Mr. Penick was reared a farmer, but for the past forty or forty-five years had been engaged in mercantile pursuits. For sixteen or seventeen years immediately pre- vious to his death he was associated with his son, William R. Penick, in the drug business in St. Joseph. He was one of the oldest citizens of that city, and none were held in higher esteem than he. He was never a politician, but, for a term or two, was a member of the town council. He ever bore the character of an exemplary citizen, and the reputation of a moral, christian gentleman. During the year previous to the death of Mr. Penick, which occurred in St. Joseph, Sunday, January 12, 1879, he and his wife celebrated the occasion of their golden wedding. He left a wife and four children: General William R. Penick, of St. Joseph; Sarah Anne Bell, of Jackson County; Robert Thomas Penick and Mattie W. Riley, of St. Joseph.
R. T. PENICK,
was born in Buchanan County, Missouri, October 14, 1841. Was reared and educated to mercantile business. At the breaking out of the civil war he united his fortunes with those of the South. The first year of the
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war he was instructor of tactics in the Missouri State Guard. During the remainder of the war he was in the Tenth Missouri Infantry, C. S. A., as captain of Company E, and when the war ended was adjutant of the same regiment. He served four years in the Confederate army, residing in St. Louis one year. Returned to St. Joseph in 1866. In October, 1861, he married Miss Lizzie Rulo, a native of Platte County. By this marriage he has had two children, Lizzie R., born February 15, 1868, and Mattie S., born February 15, 1869. Mr. P. is a member of Charity Lodge, No. 331, A. F. & A. M., and is now (1881) Master of the Lodge. He is also a Companion of Mitchell R. A. Chapter. He is a man of few words, but an honorable. gentleman whom to know is to esteem.
WILLIAM RIDGEWAY PENICK
was born near Columbia, Boone County, Missouri, on the 20th day of May, 1829, and is now (1881) fifty-two years of age. Joel J. Penick, his father, was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, but removed to Kentucky when a child, and grew up amid the rough, stern experiences of border life. He emigrated to Central Missouri when quite young, and married Sophia B. Ridgeway (daughter of William Ridgeway), who was born in or near Kincaid's Fort, in Howard County, Missouri. The parties married when quite young, and when the father was twenty-one and the mother sixteen years old, the subject of this sketch was born. He was about eight years old, when his parents removed to what was called "The Platte Purchase," then a wilderness, and located about fourteen miles south of where the City of St. Joseph has since been built. The county being new and sparsely settled, the opportunities to procure an education were very limited, but, by the care and thought- fulness of his parents, and his own indomitable energy, he managed to secure sufficient education to transact business, and grapple with life successfully. From the age of eight to eighteen, he labored on a farm, "occasionally going to school two or three months in the winter. He procured books, such as were accessible, and spent the long winter even- ings reading by firelight, and, during the day, when resting from labor, he generally had a book with him, and spent the hour for rest in study. A teacher was finally employed in the district school, who was capable of teaching English grammar and arithmetic, beyond the "Rule of Three," the first teacher ever employed there possessing such superior qualifications. He was then about seventeen years old, and three months instruction by the new teacher gave him such a start in those studies as to enable him to master them quite successfully, by his own firelight at home. In the following summer his parents removed to St. Joseph, and young Penick was permitted to resume his attendance at the
N. K. Quick
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country school ; but, in a few weeks after, the teacher died, and he was entrusted with the charge of the school. After teaching three months (devoting every spare moment to study, and making excellent progress), he spent a few months at a high school, in St. Joseph, and was employed for a brief period as bookkeeper for William Ray. Achieving success in his studies, he again took charge of the district school in his old neighborhood, for six months. He then determined to study medicine, gave up the school, and spent the winter in the study of pharmacy, chemistry and anatomy, paying his board, in the meantime, by giving instruction to a few children. In the following spring, he engaged in the drug store of Haycraft & Howard, in St. Joseph, with a view of promot- ing his knowledge of medicine, and enabling himself to take a course of medical lectures. It three months, his employers found him so convers- ant with the details of the business, and so popular with the customers, that they engaged him permanently, but he did not give up the idea of becoming a doctor, for many years, and continued his studies with a view of taking a course of lectures as soon as it was convenient. As his salary was small, he was permitted to deal in school books and sta- tionery, in a small way, on his own account. He had, when he went into the drug store, fourteen dollars in money. With this money he bought the stock of a book peddler (who had become tired of the business), which he soon sold out, and was ready to purchase more. His employ- ers recommended him to dealers in St. Louis and Louisville, as worthy of credit, where he purchased, partly for cash and partly on time, and he continued the business for three years, being very careful, in the mean- time, not to neglect his duty to his employers. On the 11th of January, 1852, he was married to Miss Amanda D. Grigg, and on the 20th of May following (the day he was twenty-three years old), he became a partner of Dr. Robert L. Wood in a drug and book store, in St. Joseph. In the three years of his clerkship, and his small dealings in books, he saved money enough to commence housekeeping and invest $1,500 in the store as a partner. His numerous friends at the old establishment, where he was a clerk, followed him to the new one, and the business was successful. At the end of thirteen months he purchased the interest of his partner, and is yet (1881) engaged in the same business he com- menced as a clerk more than thirty-two years ago. He has never been a politician. He was Coroner of Buchanan County four years, and served one year as a member of the City Council of St. Joseph, and two years as Mayor of the city. By his labors and influence a fire department was organized, which is now the pride of the city. Other public and benev- olent enterprises were brought into life by his active energies, which have proved to be blessings to the community. He seems to have the rare gift of imparting vitality to every enterprise he engages in, and by a peculiar magnetic power of winning for it friends and popularity. A
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portion of the time he was Mayor, he was President of the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad Company (now St. Joseph and Western). It was through his energy and influence, and that of his City Council, that work was recommenced on the road in 1866, which resulted in its com- pletion. The road was commenced several years before, but the work was suspended on account of the war. For many years of his life he has been an active Free Mason. He has taken all the degrees conferred in the United States, up to and including the Thirty-second Degree of the Scottish Rite. He has been Master of the Lodge, High Priest of the Chapter, Commander of the Commandery, Master of the Lodge of Per- fection, and Master of the Council of Royal and Select Masters. He has. also been honored by nearly all of the Masonic Grand Bodies of Missouri with the highest office they could confer. He was Grand Master of the- Grand Lodge, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter, Deputy Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar, and Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters. Three of these grand offices he held at the same time, which was a triple honor rarely enjoyed by any person. During his official connection with the Grand Lodge, he took an active interest in the affairs of the Masonic College, which had been organized in Missouri, and exerted all his influ- ence to secure its prosperity, and preserve it to the craft. He was with Foster and Carnegy, and others-the party of progress, and the party ready and willing to make sacrifices to sustain the college, as well as the honor and dignity of the craft. During the late war, he was an active sup- porter of the Government, and gave a large portion of his time in assisting in enterprises to strengthen the cause of the Union and suppress the rebelion. He organized a secret association of Union men, called the Unconditional Union Club of Missouri, which consisted of about one hundred different clubs. They contributed much towards keeping Union men united in the Northwest portion of Missouri. While the war was in progress he held five military commissions. He was first a Major, on the staff of Brigadier General Ben. Loan. He was next com- missioned Lieutenant Colonel, and afterwards Colonel, of the Fifth Cav- alry, Missouri State Militia, a regiment he raised for the service of the United States. Afterwards, he was commissioned Colonel of a regiment in the service of the state, and a Brigadier General of the Militia in Northwest Missouri. Most of the active military service he performed was in Platte, Clay, Cass and Jackson Counties, contending with guer- rillas, commanded by Todd, Quantrell, and other desperate commanders of the same kind. It will be seen that his life has been one of activity. Whatever he undertook, he did well. In business, in civil office, in the craft, in the army, in whatever he engaged, he threw into it all the energy of body and mind, and rarely failed of success. He is a large man, erect, muscular, and of a commanding presence. In his intercourse
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with men he is courteous and gentlemanly. Being hospitable, kind and and charitable, he is greatly beloved by his acquaintances.
CHARLES A. PERRY,
a native of Montgomery County, Maryland, was born December 6, 1818. He was there reared and educated in mercantile business. Upon attain- ing his majority (in 1839) he emigrated to Clay County, Missouri, where he resided till 1841, when he moved to Platte County, and located in Weston, then the great frontier trading point of Missouri. There he engaged in mercantile business with his brother, E. A. Perry. In 1842, the Perrys established a branch house in the then incipient village of Blacksnake, or as it is called to-day, St. Joseph. In 1843, they erected for a store house the first brick building in the place. This was on Main Street, near Francis. It was stocked with domestic goods, queensware, etc. They were also extensively engaged in the Salt Lake trade. The cattle which hauled their wagons to that point were afterwards driven to California, where they commanded a good price. At a subsequent period they substituted mules for oxen in this traffic. They continued actively engaged in the freighting business till the completion of the railroad to the Pacific Coast, when their once lucrative occupation became numbered with the things of the past. Mr. Perry, in his long and active frontier career, has achieved no small amount of good. In 1845, he was the sutler of General Alex. Doniphan's command in his celebrated expe- dition. In 1854, he went through to Salt Lake in the same capacity with Colonel Stephens, and was engaged in furnishing Government sup- plies until 1857. During this period his life was one of almost constant excitement, and many were the thrilling adventures and hair-breadth escapes which he encountered. When the post was established at Fort Riley, Mr. Perry took the contract for furnishing it supplies. The better to facilitate this end, he purchased a steamboat, on which he shipped them up the Kaw River. He was the pioneer and only successful navi- gator of this stream. At the breaking out of the late civil war, he took the contract for supplying the army of the plains with corn. The mag- nitude of this undertaking may be inferred from the fact that in fifteen months, it amounted to two and a half million dollars. He had in his employ at one time 1,200 teams. During the period of his engagement in these enterprises, he continued to maintain his interest in St. Joseph, where he is at present (1881) engaged in the commission and storage business. Of all the pioneer settlers of St. Joseph, none have passed through more active and stirring scenes, or experienced greater variety of fortunes than Charles A. Perry. His sympathetic nature is remembered by many who experienced, in the early days of St. Joseph, his liberal assistance.
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ELIAS H. PERRY
was born in the State of Maryland, December 19, 1819, and continued to reside there till he had attained his majority, when, allured by visions of wealth to be acquired in the West, he determined to try his fortune in that favored region. Accordingly in 1841, we find him in Weston, then the great Western trading point of the state, employed as a clerk in the mercantile house of C. A. Perry & Co. In 1842, in company with his brother, he opened a store in what was then known as Robidoux Land- ing, or more generally, Blacksnake Hills, (the present St. Joseph), thus constituting, next to Joseph Robidoux, the founder of the city, the first mercantile firm in the place. Their store building was a log house, stocked with the usual line of goods suitable for outfitting trains and adventurers bound for the distant West. Their stock of goods, at that time, was the largest to be found in the Northwest. As their business increased, they subsequently erected a double brick store to accommo- date its demands. Besides their regular business of merchandising, they also engaged in freighting and in buying stock for the California market. This latter increasing so rapidly, Mr. Perry found it expedient in 1852, to move to California for the purpose of giving the business at that end of the line his personal attention. He remained there four years. He was also engaged for the period of a year in merchandising at Great Salt Lake City. During his sojourn in the distant West, he continued to retain his interest in the establishment at Weston. After an active career of many years in the Western trade, he returned in 1856 to St. Joseph. In the autumn of 1880, in company with Mr. Moore, his son-in-law, he embarked in the grain and produce business in that city. Few, if any men in the Northwest, have been more closely identified with its growth and development. Indeed the name of Perry is so intimately asso- ciated with the early history and progress of Western enterprise that it has become a household word in this country, and certainly more popular men never lived in the West.
V. W. PERRY,
farmer and stock raiser, section 31, postoffice St. Joseph, was born Jan- uary Ist, 1812, in Montgomery County, Maryland, within sixteen miles of Washington, and was there reared, spending his boyhood days on the farm and receiving the benefits of a common school education. When twenty-one years of age he immigrated west, and in 1842, settled in Platte County, Missouri, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. He was one of the leading and respected citizens of that county, and came from there to this county in the fall of 1875 ; he owns a farm of 218 acres, well cultivated and contains a young orchard. Mr. Perry has
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been twice married ; first, in May, 1854, to Miss Louisa Darst, a native of Kentucky. She died in September, 1852, leaving three children : Benjamin, Louise and Althia. He was married again, in 1866, to Miss M. Herndon, a native of Kentucky. They are members of the M. E. Church south, and are honored citizens of this county.
THE PFEIFFER STONE COMPANY,
Charles A. Pfeiffer, President; Joseph Pfeiffer, Vice President; F. W. Gensen, Secretary, manufacturers of and dealers in stone, marble and granite work, and proprietors of steam saw mills. This firm ranks prominently among our western manufacturers, there being no shops of this class in the Great West outside of Chicago and St. Louis which by far reach the standard and the magnitude of the works of the above named company. The Messrs. Pfeiffer, well and favorably known, not only in St. Joseph and its immediate vicinity but far beyond the region to which this class of manufacturers generally limit themselves, began to do business in St. Joseph some twenty years ago, on a very moderate scale, but endowed with plenty of pluck and energy, and on the support of a thorough training in their mechanical and artistical pursuit, they have, by industrious work, close attention to their business, and intelli- gent management of the same, now reached the reputation of being foremost in their trade within the territory of the Far West, and not only have they contributed largely towards building up and beautifying our Western cities with their skillful works of art, but they can also point with pride to a number of stone fronts by them built in St. Joseph and erected in Chicago. The senior member of this firm, Mr. Joseph Pfeiffer, is a native of Bingen, in Hohenzollern, Sigmaringen, Germany, and was born March 23, 1817. While learning in practice the trade of a stone and marble cutter, he spent his leisure hours in educating himself under the direction and instruction of an architect and building master, in the science of architecture and construction. His studies completed, he sought practical accomplishments, by working for and under the supervision of famed sculptors and builders, lent a hand in the erection of many structures and some far reputed works of monumental art, again went through a course of studies in the Royal Polytechnicum, in Munich, and finally passed the government examination with honors, being duly qualified to act in the capacity of a building master. Then, after serv- ing some time as a foreman and superintending the construction and erection of an eminent public building of cut stone, he settled down in his native town, commencing business on his own account, and married. Amongst the most prominent works of his chisel, through which he earned fame in his native country, is the life-size statue of our Lord Jesus, on the cross, carved in Carrara marble, and erected on a pediment
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in the churchyard of Donau Eschingen. The revolutionary year 1848, saw him implicated in the people's bold strike for liberty, which caused him to emigrate to America. Here he worked alternately in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, at his trade, until April, 1860, when he arrived in St. Joseph. Small was his beginning when he opened a stone and marble shop on Frederick Avenue, corner of Ninth, and many times the outlooks were gloomy, with but little hope for future prosperity, when a change for better fields was tempting, but a belief in the future greatness ·of his adopted town prompted him to stand by it, and St. Joseph grew and with it grew the demand for work of his hands. Soon more capa- cious shops became a matter of necessity, and the business was trans- ferred to the corner of Charles and Sixth Streets, where a two-story brick house with stone trimmings was erected. This served him for a residence, shop, and warehouse for cement, lime, plaster, etc., until the year 1867, when he bought the present site of the company's grounds on Locust Street, from Third to Fourth Streets, and took into partnership with him his oldest son, Charles A. Pfeiffer, thereafter doing business under the firm name of J. Pfeiffer & Son, until the 18th of June, 1881, when the Pfeiffer Stone Company was incorporated. Joseph Pfeiffer was married, February 13th, 1844, to Louisa Waldschitz, of Pfullendorf. They have had five children, of whom three are living, Charles A., Pauline and John Joseph.
Charles Anton Pfeiffer, eldest son of Joseph Pfeiffer, was born in the city of Sigmaringen, Germany, on the 19th of December, 1844. When about five years old he came, with his mother, to this country, following the father, who had previously emigrated. He received a common school education in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, and when a mere boy yet, helped his father in his trade, under whose instruction he finally became a practical stone and marble cutter. He learned from his father the art of sketching and drawing and making practical esti- mates on stone and marble work and thus prepared himself thoroughly for the line of business which he follows, and for the management of the large establishment, at the head of which he stands to day. He married Louise Koch, of Louisina, Mississippi, in the year 1871. They had four children of whom three are living: Otto, Joseph and Agathe. Frederick W. Gensen, the third member of the firm, and its secretary, was born in Arendsee, Prussia, in February, 1846. Received a final education at a Royal Gymnasium, preparing himself for a merchant. After six years of business life, he served in the Prussian army, and upon receiving his regular discharge came, in 1869, to America. After four year's stay he returned to his native country, but with a seed of Americanism within himself, which grew, and induced him, in 1878, to emigrate and seek a permanent home. He married, October 10th, 1878, Pauline Pfeiffer.
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TRUTPERT PFEFFERLE
was born in Baden, Germany, July 27, 1844, and received a common school education. He is what might be truly called a self-made man. He emigrated to America May 4, 1866, and came immediately to St. Joseph, Missouri. He was a stone mason by trade, and in the winter worked for the New Ulm distillery. In 1871 he started in business for himself. He was married May 15, 1873, to Miss Sophia Miller, who was born in Switzerland. They have three little girls. He is an Encamp- ment member of the I. O. O. F .. and a member of sciences and sixteenth principle.
A. K. PICKLE,
engineer on the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, was born in Monroe County, Missouri, November 9, 1844. His father, Solo- mon, was one of the early settlers in that section. A. K. was raised in Audrain County, and was educated at the Seminary in Mexico under the tutorship of Professor Skelton. When eighteen years of age he com- menced railroading in the capacity of fireman on the Hannibal & St. Joe, but his experience for two years was not as pleasant as it might have been, owing to fact that the war was in its zenith, and bushwhack- ers would tear up the rails, destroy bridges, etc., and it was necessary to have the cab lined with boiler iron as a preventative against bullets. In 1864 Mr. Pickle enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Missouri, and served until the close. After the war he returned to the Hannibal & St. Joseph Company, and was in their employ until 1876, the greater portion of the time as engineer. In the spring of that year he accepted a position on the Kansas City. St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad. He is recog- nized as a competent, trustworthy engineer, and is held in high esteem by his employers. On the 12th of November, 1869, Miss Angelia Mon- tague became his wife. They have two children, Freddie and Alice. Mr. Pickle is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and a Mason-Mitchell Chapter.
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