St. Clair County, Illinois - Chapter 1: Philip H. Postel, 1928 (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 1: Philip H. Postel

HMAN OF great integrity of character, of marked executive ability, of generous impulses, Mr. Postel has contributed much to the upbuilding of Mascoutah" - such is the statement made in the History of St. Clair County, published in 1881, concerning the character of Philip H. Postel, the grandfather of our subject. This eminent ancestor came from a long line of German farmers, was born at Hassloch, Rhein Pfaltz, on July nth, 1818, and in 1841 realized his long cherished ambition to see America and visit his relatives here, the Eisenmayers, who were then living in Mascoutah. In this place, which then comprised only eleven houses, Conrad and Philip Eisenmayer were operating a grist and saw mill, and Mr. Postel soon joined them in this business. In 1842 on September 4, Mr. Postel was married to Maria Eisenmayer, who was also born in Germany, and came to this country in 1840. To them were born nine children, seven of whom lived to maturity - three boys and four girls. These three sons - Philip H., Jr., George, and Julius - took over their father's prosperous milling business, upon the death of the latter, and met with unusual success in its management. George, the father of our subject, was born at Mascoutah, on Oct. nth, 1852. After completing a public school course he continued his studies m McKendree College and in Washington University of St. Louis, after which he returned to Mascoutah and worked for a time in his father's mill. Afterwards he went to O'Fallon, where for five years he worked in the Charles Tiedemann Mills, in which enterprise his father had a half interest. Here he learned the miUing business thoroughly, and upon his returning to Mascoutah, took over the management of the Postel Mills, ably directing this great and growing business during the rest of his active life.

Mr. Postel May 24th, 1882. To them were born two sons and two daughters - Philip H., Fred Wm. (deceased), Amelia J. (Mrs. George N. Souer) and Medora M. Postel. Mr. Postel was still a young man when he was elected vice-president of the Postel Milling Company, and after he retired from his ofEce, he still maintained his interest in the business. He was twice elected president of the Mascoutah School Board, and for five years held the presidency of the Millers' Mutual Fire Association of Illinois. He was long a faithful member of the German Methodist Church, and of the Masonic Order. He died June ^th, 191 5, several years after he retired. Mrs. Postel is still living and in good health.

Their son Philip H. Postel was born m Mascoutah, on August joth, 1889. His father, knowing the value of a liberal education, gave to his son Philip the advantages offered in the Mascoutah public schools, and added to this a technical and higher training in a school of Manual Training in St. Louis, and in Washington University. He returned to Mascoutah, with this excellent equipment, and assumed responsibilities in the Postel Mills, working under his father and his uncle. His interest in the milling business, and his ability to perform well the duties assigned to him,- enabled him soon to become one of the important olEcers in the direction of this great company.

On the 19th of June, 1916, Mr. Philip Postel was married to Bessie M. Holnback, a native of Green County, 111., and the daughter of Charles W. Holnback and Bena Achenbach. Her father was one of the large land owners in Green County, but retired many years ago (191 j) to Signal Hill, near East St. Louis, 111., where he bought a residence and other property. In 1919 he moved to Hollywood, California where he lived until his death on March 19th, 1926. Mrs. Postel was one of the three children of Charles and Mrs. Holnback. She received a good education, a product of the Illinois Womans College at Jacksonville, III. She is the mother of three child-

Allen T. Spivey

In 1921 Mr. Postel was made president of the Philip H. Postel Milling Company, a position which he holds today. He is a Mason, enjoys auto driving and bowling for recreatiorv, and values his friends.

ALLEN T. SPIVEY <-/^ EGINNING his business career as a printer m a small Ij town, at a salary of two dollars a week, Mr. Allen T. Spivey of East St. Louis, by meritorious effort, native ingenuity, hard work and honest dealing, has advanced to the rank of one of the leading editors in Illinois and one of the most successful and wealthiest business men in the southern part of the State. He is the son of Thomas J. and Sally Ann Spivey and was born on a farm in Bollsville Township, seven miles west of Shawneetown, Illinois on April 5, 1875. His mother died when he was a little over four years of age and his father died in February 1897. The formal education of Allen Spivey consisted of an elementary schooling, a threeyear course at Shawneetown High School and the completion of a course at the Evansville Commercial College. In September iSgi he began his business career as a printer for the Gallatin Democrat, published in Shawneetown, and for the first year received two dollars per week, working ten hours per day. During the next few years he worked for the various newspapers in the surrounding district, receiving a valuable training which has aided him immensely in his career.

In 1901, he had his first political experience, being elected city treasurer of Shawneetown. In November of that year he established the third weekly newspaper in his home city, called the Shawneetown Gleaner, which he consolidated with the Shawnee News and developed it into one of the most successful and influential Republican newspapers in southern Illinois. This event was the beginning of his activity in Republican politics. He served as Postmaster at Shawneetown for two terms.

January 18, 191 5, Mr. Spivey moved to East St. Louis and established the Spivey Printing Company and the East St. Louis Tribune, a weekly newspaper. On February i, 1918, he purchased the East St. Louis Journal, now a prosperous and widely-read daily.

Mr. Spivey has taken a prominent part in politics. He has been superintendent of the Finance Department, Assistant Commerce Commissioner and a member of the Illinois Tax Commission. During the twelve years that he has been in business in East St. Louis, he has made a great fortune, he owns considerable real estate and in 1927 completed the first twelve-story office building m East St. Louis. He is prominent m banking circles, being a stockholder and director ot the Union Trust Bank and owning stock in the First National Bank.

On Christmas Day, m iqoi, Mr. Spivey was married to Mary O'Neal Wright of McLeansboro, Illinois. Two children were born to them, Mittase Wright Spivey, born September ID, 1902, and Allen Thomas, Jr., born October 2, iQii, and died in East St. Louis on August 11, 1920. The mother died March 2, 1922 and Mr. Spivey was married to Miss Carrie Briedy in the spring of 192J. She was born in New Orleans on January 6, 1896 and was the daughter ot Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Briedy. On August 7, 1927, a daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born to them.

Robert D. W. Holder

The activities of Mr. Spivey are by no means confined to his newspaper and politics. He has always been active in the work of his church. More space is given to church news m the East St. Louis Daily Journal today than in any other Illinois newspaper. In directing the policy of his paper, Mr. Spivey has been fearless m his stand for that which he considered to be clean, moral and right, not with a negative will to avoid what was wrong, but with a positive determination to uphold that which is right. An active member of newspaper associations, he is now president of the Republican Editorial Association of Illinois, and is associated with other editorial organizations. He is a 32nd Degree Mason, a Modern Woodman, an Elk, a Rotarian and a member of the Missouri Athletic Association and St. Clair Country Club. ROBERT D. W. HOLDER

QOW AT THE age of eighty (1927), the Hon. Robt. D. W. Holder, of Belleville, is still an active member of the Illinois Bar, and carries on his legal practice with much of the energy of former days. Mr. Holder's life has been one of hardship and struggle, from boyhood, to secure an education and to establish his practice as a lawyer. He is a native of Jefferson County, 111., born on Feb. 22nd, 1847. His parents - Willis and Fariba Cook Holder - came to Illinois from Tennessee in the early settlement days. The father had been born in Georgia, and was but ten years of age when his parents moved to Tennessee. When war with Mexico threatened, he enlisted for service, at Mt. Vernon, 111., was made a Second Lieutenant, departed with his company for Mexico, where he died the following year (1848), a victim of camp fever. Robert was then less than a year old, and his mother and the seven children were left to manage the 200 acre farm as best they could. She received a pension of eight dollars a month from the govern' ment, and this, with what additional income the fimily could receive trom the farm, enabled them to improve their land and, later, to pay off all indebtedness .igainst it. The family remained on this farm until 1857, when Mrs. Holder married again, to Levi Sh.irp, of Mascoutah, and soon afterwards moved to this town. Here Robert had an opportunity to attend the public school, continuing his studies until he was fifteen, when he began working {"or his stepfather, hauling flour from Mascoutah to Belleville and to St. Louis. After several years at this work, he secured employment on <i farm, worked and saved all he could until he was twenty-one, when he entered McKendree College to resume his studies in preparation for the calling for which he had long desired to prepare himself At the end of a year, his savings exhausted, he was compelled to leave college in order to secure means for further educition, and after teaching for three years, he was able to enter the Law School of Michigan University, in 1S72. He remained here for two years, graduating in 1874. During the three years which he had spent m teaching, he had studied law at home, and in the office of Judge White, of Carlyle, Illinois, and later under the direction of the Hon. F. A. Lietze, of Carlyle, 111. After his graduation, he again entered the teaching ranks for one year, in a school south of Mascoutah, known as the Barth School, and the next year opened a law office in Mascoutah. Here he conducted a practice for two years, during which time he held the offices of Town Clerk and of City Attorney, and in March cf 1877, came to Belleville. Until 1880 he was employed by the law firm of James M. Hay and Chas. E. Knispel (both now deceased^ when he was elected to the office of State's Attorney, and reelected m 1884. In 1882 he formed a partnership with Mr. L. D. Turner, a former classmate in McKendree College. Between them a warm friendship had grown while they were students together, and this friendship continued until the death of Mr. Turner, in April, 1918. The law partnership was unbroken during all this time except for the six years, from 190 j to 1909, when Mr. Holder held the office of Circuit Judge. From 1900 to 1902 he served as Master m Chancery, which office was also once filled by his law partner.

After the death of Mr. Turner, his son, Lucius D. Turner, Jr., became Mr. Holder's law partner, and they now operate under the name of Turner and Holder. A biography of Mr. Turner and his father will be found within the pages of this history.

E. Barth, a young lady from Mascoutah, where she was born on Nov. ist, iS^-;, and where she was reared and edu' cated. One daughter, Jessie May, was born to them, on Oct. ist, 1878. She IS now the wife of Mr. T. J. Connell, passenger agent for the St. Louis Division of the Southern Railway System.

Mr. Holder, through a long career of close and careful attention to business, has accumulated some of the material benefits of life; he owns a splendid residence in Belleville, as well as some farm land and other property. He is a member of the Elks and of the K. of P; also of both State and local Bar Associations. Both he and his good wife are in the best of health.

John Marsh.Ml Karns

IN THE SPRING of 1912 there graduated from McKendree College a number of students who ranked among the most talented and brilliant of those who had attended the old school. John Marshall Karns, one of East St. Louis' able lawyers, was the valedictorian of this graduating group. He was born in the country, near Eldorado, Illinois, on October 12th, 1889, the youngest of the six children of John L. and Elizabeth F. Karns. The former is still living; the mother died in 1917. His early education was secured in the country school, near his home, after which he entered Ewing Academy, completed its course in 1908, and in 1909 enrolled in McKendree, from which he received his A. B. degree three years later. From 191 2 to 1914 he was principal of the Township High School, first at Pinckneyville, and afterwards at Oblong, Illinois. For one year he was a student in the Georgetown University Law School of Washington, D. C, and in the fall of 1916, he was chosen as one of the "stump speakers" advocating the election of Woodrow Wilson. Soon after the death of his mother, in the spring of 1917, he en' listed for service in the World War, and remained in the service until the end of the war. In 1919 he resumed his law studies in Georgetown University, graduating in 1921 with the degree of LL. B., and ranked among the ten highest in the class of 213 law graduates. When the law student body, consisting of 1129 students, presented to the university a memorial to the memory of their classmates, who had died in the service, Mr. Karns delivered, before the entire university body, the presentation oration.

The year following his graduation, Mr. Karns was a member of the legal staff of the Federal Prohibition Commissioner at Washington, D. C. He returned to his native city in 1922, and opened a law office, and also served as City Attorney of Eldorado, until 1925, when he came to East St. Louis, and became a member of the law firm of Karns and Flanders, with offices in the Metropolitan Building.

Attorney Karns is a member of the East St. Louis, the Illinois, and the American Bar Association; of the American Legion, and of the Forty and Eight; of the Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity; of the Eldorado Country Club; of the Lions Club, the Elks, and the Masonic Order - a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner. In McKendree he belonged to Plato, and in Georgetown University he was president of his senior class, was a member of various law clubs and debating societies, and of the Illinois Society in the District of Columbia.

Mrs. Karns, formerly Alice G. Cape, to whom he was married December 28th, 1923, was an Eldorado girl, the daughter of F. F. and Charlotte Cape. She is a graduate of the Eldorado High School and of the Southern Illinois Normal, and taught school before her marriage. She is a member of the Eldorado Woman's Club, and of several teachers organizations, and also of the Baptist Church. Mr. Karns is affiliated with the Methodist denomination.

Louis J. Dyroff

ONE OF THE wealthiest and most influential men m the county is Louis J. DyrofF, a real estate dealer at Dupo, 111. His father, Louis DyrofF, was a hard-working, far-sighted German farmer, who before retiring from active labor, succeeded in amassing a large fortune in land near Dupo. He foresaw a great future for this part of the county. The father was born in Germany, at Hessendarmstadt, on February 2jrd, 1843, and was brought to this country by his parents in 1848. The family settled on a farm in St. Clair County, where the father soon acquired a large estate, and here the son spent his childhood, attending the public school, learning the art of farming, and in turn becoming a successful farmer. He was married to Katherine Harres, who became the mother of six children - four girls and two boys.

Louis J. Dyroff, one of their two sons, was born on the farm in Sugar Loaf Township, on August 17th, 1872. He He was sent to the public school and afterwards to the high school at Columbia, 111., and this was followed with a course in the Perkins &? Herpel Business College. His schooling finished, he went back to his father's farm and worked here until 1898, when he began farming for himself. Ten years later he sold some of his land to the Railroad Company and invested in other farm land in Monroe Coun ty. In 1914 he was appointed Postmaster of Dupo, and held this position until 1923; but in the meantime he had made a venture in the general merchandise business, m 191 5, and managed this until 1925, when he sold the business. For many years he had been dealing in real estate, and after selling out his store, he devoted his time more fully to this interest, and even now makes the real estate business his chief concern.

Perhaps no one has taken more interest in the civic affairs of his town than has Mr. Dyroff. Back in 1906, when he was yet in early middle life, Mr. Dyroff was elected the first president of the Dupo Village Board, and even before this time he began serving on the School Board, of which he is still a member. For many years he held the position of Town Collector, and also that of Police Magistrate. He organized the first Light ii Power Company in Dupo, and sold this to the Illinois Light 6? Power Corporation in 1922. He assisted in the organization of the Dupo Building feP Loan Association, was made its first president, and is now vice-president of the same, as well as vice-president of the Dupo State Savings Bank, which he also helped to establish. In 1924 Mr. Dyroff was elected to the office of Supervisor and in the following year was again placed at the

LOUIS J. DYROFF head of his city government as Mayor. During his administration, sidewalks have been laid and waterworks have been installed in the town. He lent his aid to the building of the new Community High School m Dupo, and serves at present on its Board of Education. Mr. Dyroff was appointed a Food Administrator in his locality during the late war, and served both as Chairman of the Liberty Loan Committee and as a Committeeman of the State Council of Defense.

Mr. Dyroff is married and has a family of four children, all of whom are grown to manhood and womanhood. Mrs. Dyroff was the daughter of George Doerr and Carohne Kraus; her marriage to Louis Dyroff was solemnized on the loth of November, 1898. She came from a family of six children who were reared on a farm in Sugar Loaf Township. Her father, a prosperous farmer in this township, and her mother, have both passed away. The first daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Dyroff, Hilda E., was born in 1901, on the 26th of January, and is now the wife of Raymond Dodson, a public school principal. Esther A. was born July 7th, 1903, is a graduate of the Illinois State Normal University and of the University of Illinois. She is engaged in the teaching profession. The first son, Arthur J., who came into their home on March 15th, 1904, and the youngest, Erwin, born on January 25th, four yeiirs later, are both attending the James Millikin University in this state. Verily they have reared and educated a goodly family.

As previously stated, Mr. Dyroff is reputed one of the richest men in his community. He is the owner of more than three hundred acres of land around Dupo, and besides, holds valuable land in Texas. But he has always been a hard worker, a good business man and an efficient manager. He belongs to the Shriners of the Masonic Order, and, also, is an Odd Fellow.

SINCE the year 1880, Dr. H. T. Bechtold, one of the senior physicians in St. Clair County, has been located in O'Fallon, 111. When he first came to this city, it had about one thousand inhabitants, and he has lived and worked and served here, and grown into the life of the city, until he seems indeed a part of it. The good doctor comes from a staunch German family. His parents, Fred Bechtold and Eugenia De Basompiere, were born in Europe, the father in Meintz, Germany, and the mother in Lige, Belgium, came to America soon after their marriage, and settled in Belleville. where they reared and educated their large family of thirteen children. Only three of these are. now living. Dr. Bechtold's father died in 1895, and his mother twelve years earlier.

He, whose life's history we will attempt briefly to relate, was born in Belleville, on Nov. loth, 185J. As a boy he attended the public schools of his native city, but he quit school at the age of fourteen and began working in a drug store in Belleville. In 1S70, two years later, he came to O'Fallon and took charge of a drug store here as manager, which was quite a responsible position for a young man of his age to fill. Soon he began the study of pharmacy in Washington University, and continued his studies for two years, after which he worked one year as a drug clerk for Henry Steingoetter of Belleville, 111. Then he took a position in a St. Louis drug store, and at the same time continued his studies in pharmacy, this time in the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, from which school he was graduated in 1875. Fifty years afterwards, when that institution was celebrating its Golden Jubilee, the trustees conferred upon Dr. Bechtold, and upon the other seven surviving members of that memorable class of 1875, the degree of Master of Pharmacy. To this class belongs the distinction of organizing the Alumni Association of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. There were, at first, sixteen members in the class.

Mr. Bechtold continued working as a pharmacist until 1877, when he was enrolled to study medicine in the Missouri Medical College, and was graduated three years later. During this time he acted as assistant to Dr. O. A. Wall in the Chemistry Department of the medical school. This medical college is now a department of Washington University in St. Louis. Soon after the completion of his course in medicine. Dr. Bechtold returned to O'Fallon to begin his practice, and here he has rendered service as a minister to the sick and the suffering in his community for nearly half a century.

Three years after beginning his practice. Dr. Bechtold was married, on Sept. 3rd, 1883, to Miss Kate Pfeffer, the daughter of a prominent family in Lebanon, 111., who was born Mar. 4th, i860, and who lived as a faithful companion to her husband until her death on Dec. 8th, 1904. Later the doctor married Mrs. Ella Merk Bechtold, the widow of his brother, Adolph Bechtold, for the sake of whose memory, and because of a sacred sense of obligation to assume the responsibilities which death prevented his brother in fulfilling, he obeyed the mandate of the old Hebraic Law which laid upon a man the charge to care for his brother's widow. His son, William G. Bechtold, is now a machinist, and lives in O'Fallon. His daughter is Mrs. Crosby, and lives in Festus. Mo. Both were given the advantages of a good education in McKendree College.

In 1906, Dr. Bechtold had an opportunity to take a four months trip abroad, when he visited the many cities of England, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, among them the native cities of his father and mother.

Mr Bechtold has contributed greatly to the civic and educational interests of his city. For twenty-five years he served as president of the O'Fallon Board of Education, and was, for a time, one of the trustees of McKendree College. He helped to organize the First National Bank of O'Fallon, and has been the second vice-president of this bank for many years. When he began his practice here, he often found It necessary to go from eight to ten miles out of the city to minister to the suffering. Beginning his working career with practically nothing, the doctor has been enabled, by careful business management, to accumulate some wealth. He owns city property, a very nice residence, and also some farm land.

Louis Landau

ONE OF St. Louis" successful and contented merchants is Louis Landau, a wholesale grocer, who operates a thriving business at 407-409 South Seventh St., known as the Landau Grocery Co., and who controls branch grocery stores in Belleville, 111. and in Alton. Mr. Landau resides at 5231 Washington Blvd.; here he owns a fine home, and here he spends the greater portion of his time which is not consumed with business duties.

Mr. Landau's father came to this country in 1854, from Posen, Germany, and after six years, settled in Lebanon, 111., where he started in the general merchandise business. In 1872 he sold this business and moved to St. Louis where he established a hide and fur house, and took his son, Louis, into the business with him as a partner, incorporating under the name of Landau 6? Son. The father died in i88j, but Louis continued to manage the enterprise for a while, and then sold out to his brother, Alexander Landau, and ventured into the wholesale grocery business as a partner with Mr. Bodenheimer. He bought out his partner in 1897, 2nd ran the business under his own name until 1904, when he organized the Landau Grocery Co. Mr. Landau has five sons old enough to take an interest in their father's prosperous enterprise. The company has had an encouraging growth, so that in 1916 Mr. Landau was enabled to extend his business to nearby cities, and then he organized the Landau Grocery Branch Houses in Belleville and Alton.

Before establishing himself m business, Mr. Landau secured a common school education, and entered McKendree College. But he was not permitted to complete his college education; he had to quit school and go to work. Even with this apparent handicap, he has been unusually successful. He has exercised sound judgment in his business management, and has proved himself a man of rare business acumen. Their were five children in his father's home, and at that time, industry, frugality, and hard work were necessary to success. Mr. Louis Landau was endowed with all these qualities, which have made him successful in the business world, and enabled him to accumulate a substantial fortune. He is now one of St. Louis' senior business men, but he is still actively engaged in directing the affairs of the company, and although his sons have assumed the general management of the business, their father takes upon himself the responsibility for most of the buying. In 1922 Mr. Landau celebrated his fiftieth year in business. Five years have passed since then, and it would appear that he shall continue to take an active interest jn his stores for many years to come. He enjoys two of the greatest blessings which business men of his age covet - plenty of money and good health. But above this, his greatest satisfaction is derived from his seven grand-children, of whom he is very proud. He secures much

Charles A. Niemeyer

In 1914, Mr. Landau moved his business to the building on South Seventh Street, and he has continued to operate his store here up to the present time. He is a member of the Masonic Order, and of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis.

SUBSTANTIAL cxpansion of his business interests places Charles A. Niemeyer in control of extensive enterprises, and investigation into his record shows that the business policy he has followed has ever commended him to the generous support of the public and to the confidence of his colleagues and contemporaries.

Charles A. Niemeyer was born in Lebanon, Illinois, December 14, 1873, and received his elementary and high school training in his native city. In 1887 and '88, he attended McKendree College, and following this, his name appeared upon the roils of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in 1893.

Upon completing his formal education, Mr. Niemeyer turned his attention to the building of a business career, fully representative of his abilities and ambitions. He entered the drug business of Herman Pockels, remaining until 1897, when he branched out for himself, forming the Niemeyer

Drug a Paint Company, of which he is president. In 1899, he also became president of the Vane-Calvert Paint Company. In 1901, the Vane-Calvert Paint Company absorbed the Buehler-Phelan Paint Company and in 1904 they absorbed the Wieder Paint Company. Mr. Niemeyer is also treasurer of the Eberson-Lindsley Paint Company, secretary of the Warner- Jenkinson Mfg. Company and a director in the First National Bank of St. Louis.

On April 15, 1905, Charles Niemeyer was married to Julia A. Dieckman, a St. Louisan by birth. Mrs. Niemeyer is a graduate of Mary Institute. They now have one childborn on February 28, 191 1 - Elizabeth by name, who, at the present, is attending Mary Institute. The Niemeyer family is very fond of travelling. Their recent European tour unfolded to them the beauties and the historical scenes of England, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, and Germany. In addition, many of their summer vacations are spent touring by motor car through various parts of the U. S.

While the career of Mr. Niemeyer is pre-eminently that of a successful business man, and while he devotes the greater part of his time to the advancement of his business interests, he, nevertheless, has not neglected his associations with his fellowmen, well realizing the value of friendship, of social pleasures and of intellectual progress. As a result, he has been president of the Paint, Oil and Varnish Club, is a member of the Missouri Historical Society, the Sunset Country Club and the Missouri Pharmaceutical Society.

Thus, through careful attention to business details, through hard labor, Mr. Niemeyer is now recognized as the leader of the paint and varnish business of the Middle West.

Don Turner

DON TURNER 'HE SUBJECT of this biography, Don Turner, Jr., belongs to the third generation of one of St. Clair County's most prominent families. His father, the Hon. Lucius Don Turner, held, for more than forty years, a conspicuous place in the political, social and business life of Belleville, and in fact, of the whole county. The grandfather of our subject, a native of Virginia, migrated to Illinois in 1830. Lucius D. Turner was born on a farm near Freeburg, Oct. 5th, 1849. His education was secured in the public schools of his community, in McKendree College, Washington University, and at the University of Michigan, where he graduated from the Law School in 1873. After graduating, he located in Belleville, where he conducted his legal practice alone, until 1885, when he formed, with Judge R. D. W. Holder, a partnership which lasted until Mr.

Turner's death in 1918, on the 2qth of April. He was for many years a director of the Belleville Savings Bank, Master in Chancery, and a member of the Southern Illinois Publishing Company, which directed the publication, for some time, of the News-Democrat and the Belleviller Zeitung. He rendered service to his city as an Alderman, and to the county as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and as a member of the Liederkranz, the Kronthal-Liedertafel, the Philharmonics, and of the Methodist Church, he made a definite contribution to the social and religious life of the community. He and his good wife, Josephine Eckert Turner, reared a family of five children - Waldo, Don, Jr., Zilphia, Josephine, and Mary. The mother was born at Waterloo, Monroe County, Nov. 14th, 185 1, and was married to Mr. Turner in 1875. Her father, Leonard Eckert, was for a time the Sheriff of Monroe County. The following is a paragraph from the beautiful tribute adopted by the Belleville Civic League (of which she was a member) shortly after her death on Sept. 21, 1914: "Hers was a hfe full of labor and selfdenial for her family. She was scrupulously mindful of her obligations as a wife and mother, and permitted nothing to interfere with the faithful discharge of her duties as she saw them."

Of such honored parents, Don Turner, Jr. was born on March i8th, 1879, in the city of Belleville. After completing the public school courses, he attended the Smith Academy, a department of Washington University, and the Law School of Columbia University, New York City, from which he was graduated in 1901. He began his law practice in East St. Louis, in an oiEce with William Forman and Judge D. M. Browning, where he remained until 1904, when he came to Belleville. Here he practiced alone for fifteen years. Li 1919 he became a member of the firm Turner and Holder, taking the place left vacant by his father's death.

On Dec. 19th, 1904, he was married to Alice Tittman, the daughter of E. C. Tittman, a prominent attorney of St. Louis, Missouri. Two children have been born to them - Marie Josephine, on Nov. i8th, 1906; and L. Don, Jr., on March 12th, 1911. The daughter is a student in Washington University, and the Vice-President of her class.

Mr. Turner helped to organize the Belleville Chamber of Commerce, and was for many years a director in this body. Through his influence, and by his efforts through legal correspondence, largely, an option was secured for the location of Scott Field, the government aviation ground near Belleville. He helped in directing the Belleville House Building Association, and is a director of the Belleville Industrial

DON TURNER Loan Co., for which he acts as attorney. He has served as the secretary and treasurer of the following companies : The Belleville Gas i^ Electric Co., the Muskogee Electric 5? Gas Co , the Ada (Okla.) Gas and Electric Co.; and was the secretary of the Enid Gas &? Electric Co., and of the Centralia Gas Company. But with all the duties required of Mr. Turner from these many positions, he found time to devote to his general law practice. He held, for two terms, the olEce of Master in Chancery, which position his honored father filled for a number of years. He is a director of the Home Building &? Loan Association of Belleville, and Vicepresident and director of the Belleville Savings Bank. MALCOLM PERCEVAL ANDREWS, M. D.

H GREAT DEAL OF coutage, hard work, fearlessness and perseverance have won success for Dr. Andrews, now a prosperous physician and surgeon, and specialist of the eye, ear nose and throat, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Dr. Andrews is an absolutely self-made man. He earned his way through every one of the many schools that he has attended, nursed his boyhood ambitions, and finally reached his goal. Dr. Andrews was born on April i, 1879, in Lebanon, lUi' nois. He first attended the country school of DeKalb County. In the town of Lebanon, Dr. Andrews received his elemen' tary school education. At an early age, when he needed help.

DR- M. P. ANDREWS encouragement and care, he was stricken by the loss of his beloved parents. Left to face the world alone, penniless and heart-broken, the orphan let nothing interfere with his life plans. He immediately secured work in the shop of Mr. J. Lysakowski. Some time later, Mrs. H. F. Eicher, a kind lady, who had five children of her own, became interested in him. He was invited to accept a place in their home - an invitation which he eagerly accepted. Since that time. Dr. Andrews has been a "son" of Mr. and Mrs. Eicher.

With money earned by doing various odd jobs. Dr. Andrews paid his way through an academic course and three years of regular collegiate work in McKendree College. At the college. Dr. Andrews' musical talents - both vocal and instrumental - were developed under Professor Pesold. He was a member of the college orchestra, the Plato, quartette, and the city band. His greatest inspirations were received from "Mac" Chamberlin and Dr. Fulgham. The training in mechanics obtained from Mr. J. Lysakowski was of inestimable value, later in doing surgery. Encouragement from the Presbyterian mothers - who were all mothers to him - and the fine example set by his older brother kept him from sacrificing his life to manual labor and ignorance. While a Junior in the college. Dr. Andrews fell a victim to typhoid fever, a disease that forced him to quit McKendree. Mrs.

Dr. Andrews subsequently pursued the two-year course in English of the Home Correspondence School, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Continuing his study, he attended for two years Marion-Simms-Beaumont School of Medicine of St. Louis University. In 1905, after completing two years of study in the Medical Department of the University of Illinois, he received his M. D. degree. He continued his medical training by studying in Chicago, Rochester and Philadelphia.

Dr. Andrews practiced medicine and surgery from 1905 to 1912 m Abbotsford, Wisconsin. Taking up specialized work, he practiced in Beloit, Wisconsin, until the beginning of the World War. He was accepted for service, and served as Surgeon of the United States Medical Reserve Corps. After the war, in 1919, he re-located in Manitowac, Wisconsin, as a specialist, eye, ear, nose and throat surgeon. At one time he was a local surgeon of the Soo Line Railroad Company. Besides being a pioneer in the field of the use of the X-ray and radium in treatment of conditions of the head. Dr. Andrews was one of the first users and advocates of the use of Ultra-violet radiation for treatment.

Dr. Andrews holds membership in many societies. He is a member of the American Academy of Opthalmology, a life member of the Rochester Surgeons' Club, a member of the Oto-Opthalmic Society of Milwaukee, Radiological Soci' ety of North America, American Medical Society, and the Wisconsin State Medical Society.

While in college. Dr. Andrews was consistent in his studies, was graduated with high honors. Besides being skilled in surgery and medicine. Dr. Andrews shows a remarkable versatility. He is talented in music and plays practically every instrument - the cornet especially - unusually well, and besides, he sings in a male quartet and in the choir. Dr. Andrews is also an athlete of no mean ability. In golf, he has won the State Championship of the Wisconsin Medical Society tournament and twice the Club Championship of Beloit.

In the spring of 1910, Dr. Andrews was united in marriage with Miss Mabel Belle Downey, a lady of keen business ability. Their son, Edson James, who is now attending the academy in Mercersburg, is following in his father's footsteps to a remarkable degree. He, too, has a love for surgery. Edson also has talent in music.

The brother of Dr. Andrews, Charles Page, now at Holt, Michigan, is a minister of the Presbyterian Church. His biographical sketch also appears in this history.

Frank Doyle

Summing up the life of Dr. Andrews, it may he said that he succeeded m ahnost anything that he took up. He did not know the meaning of defeat - he never accepted it. With his magnetic personaHty, love for work and study, and ambition, he paved his way to success. FRANK DOYLE

QANY OF Ohio's native sons have come to Illinois, and afterwards have developed into leaders with remarkable ability in the business and political life of their adopted state. Mayor Doyle of East St. Louis has enjoyed such an experience. Both parents, Maurice and Anna Doyle, came to this country from Ireland. His father was once a foreman for the Gravison Store Company, of Cincinnati, the city in which Frank Doyle was born on August 25th, 1876. Orphaned in early childhood, he was placed in the St. Joseph's Orphanage, at Cumminsville, Ohio, where he remained until he was thirteen, when he was taken into a farmer's home, at Morning View, Ky., as a member of the family. Here he lived and assisted with the farm duties until he was nineteen, when he went to Chicago, and secured employment with the Swift Packing Company, continued with this firm, m Chicago for nine years, steadily advancing to higher positions, and in 1904 was sent to the Swift Plant m East St. Louis, as one of the Division Superintendents. This position he held until 191 3, when he severed his connection with the company, and established a business for himself - The East St. Louis Home Ice Cream &? Ice Company, at Twentieth and Ridge Streets, of which company he is still president.

In the meantime, Mr. Doyle had married, on Nov. 14th, 1907, Miss Myrtle Meyers, of East St. Louis, the daughter of John Meyers and Anna Meyers. Mrs. Doyle was born on February 19, 1886, and educated at Boonville, Ind. Frank and Myrtle Doyle have one daughter, Mildred, born on Dec. if, 1910. Mr. Doyle is very fond of his family and, in spite of his many business and political activities, never neglects his home life.

On the 5th of April, 1927, Mr. Frank Doyle was elected Mayor of East St. Louis. This was his first venture into politics; his interests, previous to this time, had been primarily in business, to which he had devoted most of his time and talents. He has been, for some time, a director of the Arctic Ice Cream Company of St. Louis, of the Granite City Ice Cream Company, in Granite City, of the Beck-Doyle Extract Company of East St. Louis, and of the Coca Cola Bottling Company of St. Louis. In addition to these, he has interests in other business enterprises.

Mr. Doyle was trained in the Catholic fiiith, and has remained a member of the Catholic Church. He belongs to that rather small group of rare individuals, who have overcome the many handicaps and surmounted the stubborn obstacles of early life, and by persistent struggle and determination, have made for themselves remarkable and successful careers. From an obscure orphanage to the Mayoralty of a great industrial city, via the packing house route, is an achievement of which few can boast. It is a hard, rough road over which Mayor Doyle has traveled. Now that he has been honored with the highest oflSce which his city can confer upon any of its subjects, with four years ahead of him in which to render service to that city, he takes his obligations seriously, and desires to fulfill conscientiously the duties of his oiEce. In his own words, he "is in love with his city and aims to serve."

Hon. William N. Baltz

HON. WILLIAM N. BALTZ When a man can run for public office twenty-two times and can win eighteen such elections, as did Hon. William N. Baltz, it undoubtedly proves that the people have utmost confidence and trust in him. Only his efficiency and honesty while an official could have rewarded him with success, time and time again. Hon. Baltz, who was born on February 5, i86o> m Millstadt, Illinois, was a son of Philip and Henrietta

William N. Baltz

Baltz. He received an education in the schools of his home city. His love for farming induced his father to purchase the Glass farm, on which William began his career as a farmer. By virtue of hard and consistent work, and an increase of his knowledge of the science of agriculture by close observation, he brought the farm to a remarkable state of cultivation, surpassed by none in the county. He was married on August 2, 1883, to Katherine Diesel, of Millstadt, who was born on August 23, 1861. This couple were blessed with seven children, two of whom are now dead. The living are: William R., married to Ohria Feurrhan; Frieda, married to Edward Seib; Russel, married to Ida Mueller; Ottillia M; and Eugenie.

Hon. Baltz has a fine record as a public official. He has been on the board of education for many years, and is at present the president, an office that he has held for five years. His first position for the city was that of constable. He did his duty well, and literally cleaned out the rougher and unnecessary element for his community. He has been the supervisor of the township for sixteen years, and was chairman of the board of supervisors for three years. During the same time he has been chairman of the county board. Hon. Baltz is now serving his third term as mayor

In 191 2, Hon. Baltz reached one of the highest levels in his rise. He became the Democratic candidate for Congress to represent the Twenty-second District of Illinois in the Sixty-third Congress at the national capital. He was elected by a huge majority, and was soon exercising his ability as a debater and a forceful speaker. He won recognition by expressing his views on a tariff bill, taking an active part in the discussion with much older and more experienced politicians. Held in high esteem by his colleagues in Congress, he enjoyed unlimited popularity.

Hon. Baltz has rendered invaluable service to his county m many ways. Some years ago, his unrelentless drive against officials who took advantage of the treasury resulted in the replacement of a sum of $25,000.00. As supervisor, he performed a great service for the tax-payers of St. Clair County. When Hon. Baltz was the president of the Commercial Club, he contributed considerably to the building of a hard road through his town. In business, he is the superintendent and secretary and treasurer of the Millstadt Milling Company; as a farmer, he cultivates a two-hundred acre piece of land; and as a citizen, he is loved by all of Millstadt's citi^ zenry, who greatly appreciate his noble work for them.

George Wirth, Sr

GEORGE WIRTH, SR. <Y^ Y SHEER industry, intelHgence and business ability, ^U Mr. George Wirth, Sr. has risen to the high position which he now holds, president and general manager of the Auto Stove Works, a great manufacturing concern located at New Athens, 111. This plant has a national reputation, manufactures a fine quality of stoves and ranges, and ships its products to all parts of the United States. It was established in T906, and is directed by practically the same stockholders who originally became interested in the factory. In 1908 Mr. Wirth was made its manager, and two years later, upon his agreement to devote his full time to this business, he was chosen its secretary fe? treasurer and its general manager, and held this office until 1925, when he was advanced to the position which he now holds. Under his wise management the company has met with success, the business has been kept up-to-date, and wide-awake improvements and new methods in the manufacturing of stoves have been introduced. Over two hundred people are employed in the plant.

were quite young, and finally settled at a place known as Dutch Hill, in St. Clair County. Here George was born on the I'jth of July, 1867. Two other children were also born into the home. George attended school until he was fifteen, and then went to Lenzburg, where he learned the harness making business, worked here for four years, and went to St. Louis, working in the same business for five years more. In 1891 he went to New Athens, established a harness manufacturing business and operated the same until 191 1, when he sold out the business in order to give his entire time to the Auto Stove Works.

Mr. George Wirth is married and has three children - two boys and one girl. Mrs. Wirth is the daughter of Adam Metzler and Mary Perchbacher, to whom were born three other children besides Louisa (^Mrs. Wirth). The oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. George Wirth is George Wirth, Jr., and was born December ist, i8qi. He is the third Wirth m the direct line of descent to bear the name of George, since his grandfather was also called George Wirth. A sketch of George Wirth, Jr. will be found on another page of this county history. Minnie, the second child of George Wirth, Sr., IS now the wife of Edward Schmelzel; she was born on April 3rd, 1895. Edgar O., the youngest child, was born on the 8th day of June, 190'i.

George Wirth, Sr. was eighteen years of age when he lost his father by death in iSSf, on the loth of July. But long ere this time he had learned to work hard and to apply himself diHgently to whatever task his hands found to do. Starting out as a young man with practically nothing, he has not only risen to a place of prominence in the industrial life of his county, but he has acquired some property, and is now able to enjoy the comforts of life to which his constant labors through many years now entitle him. He owns a fine residence in New Athens. In many ways he has shown an interest in his community in its religious and commercial life. He is a member of the Evangelical Church and for ten years has been a past elder in this denomination. He IS interested in the State Bank of his city, of which he is the vice-president, and was one of the organizers of the local Mechanics Building and Loan Association in 1904, has been a director in this association ever since it was organized, and the secretary of the same for five years. During the years 1903 and 1904, he held the o&ce of president of the Town Board in New Athens. Mr. Wirth is an Odd Fellow and votes the Republican ticket.

Herman E, Spitznass, Jr

The life history of the subject of this sketch centers around the farm where he still lives. His life, which he has spent so quietly, was not marked with anything sensational or boisterous, but with hard, conscientious work that has made him a credit to the community. He was born on a farm near Belleville, on March 5, 1914, a son of Herman Spitznass, a native of Germany, who came to this country when only eleven years of age, grew into manhood, married Rachel Funk, by whom there was one child. At the death of this lady he married her sister, Mary, by which union there were nine children, one of whom is the subject of this sketch.

Mr. Spitznass received his education in the public schools. After graduation he took up employment with his hither, and worked for him until his retirement m 1916, when the farm was placed under the supervision of him and his two brothers, Theodore and Ervin. Ervm served in the army and died while in Camp Custer, on Oct. 5, 1918. In 1924 the two brothers bought the farm, which covers some two hundred and four acres, and have been raising crops on it ever since.

Mr. Spitznass was married to Minnie K. Stolle, on March 5, 1914. She has proven herself to be a fine companion of her husband, always giving encouragement, and helping him in time of need. This couple have made a specialty of dairying. For the past twenty-four years they have delivered dairy products in Belleville, and since 1920 their business has grown to such an extent that they began to sell their products wholesale only. The hobby of the subject of this sketch is work. His hands are always occupied with some portion of his business. He is a popular man, holding the respect and friendship of all who know him.

Arthur Eidman

BEW MEN in Belleville have so many things to do, so many things to take care of, as has Arthur Eidman, a man whose recreation is truly work. He was born on July 14, 1880, in Belleville. After graduating from Belleville High, he studied in the Bryant and Stratton Commercial College, of St. Louis. Upon graduation, he worked in the employment of his father, and spent five years as a travelling salesman. In 1903, Mr. Eidman was employed as head bookkeeper and assistant-teller of the Belleville Savings Bank. He was made assistant-cashier in 191 j. His banking ability prompted him to resign in 1919, in order to organize the St. Clair Nat'l Bank, in which he now holds the position of cashier and the office of director.

Mr. Eidman is a member, and the past vice-president, of the Chamber of Commerce. He was a commander of the Knight Templars, is the present president of the Community Service, on the executive board of the Boy Scouts. He served on the Belleville school board, as president, from 1923 to 1926. The subject of this sketch is president of the Travellers' Protective Association. To him must be given the credit for the organization of the Rotary Club in his city. At that time he was elected secretary, but his ability to lead placed him in the presidency five years later. He takes an active interest in the Elks, an organization of which he is a member. In the Masonic Order he has had practically everything in both the Scottish and York Rite, and is also a Shriner. During the World War he did his full share. As a four-minute man he gave burning, patriotic speeches that inspired. He took part in practically every Liberty Bond drive, and he was chairman of several.

When yet a young man, Mr. Eidman felt the somewhat depressing spirits of bachelorhood. Therefore, after a beautiful courtship, he was united in marriage on Jan. 30, 190";, with Artie Berry Orear, of Kansas City, Mo. The couple have two children. These are: Mary Ann, born on July 19, 1908, who is now a Junior in the University of Illinois; and Arthur Orear, born on February 2, 191 3, a splendid young fellow who is a "chip off the old block."

In the past years of his life, Mr. Eidman has travelled many miles, both for business and recreational purposes. These trips have been responsible for his broad-minded view of life. As a banker, he is known to be a "square-shooter," always straightforward and honest in his business dealings, courteous, and ever willing to oblige without asking anything in return. During McKendree College's drive for funds, Mr. Eidman was chairman of the Belleville district. Although he has achieved success from a financial stand-point, this has been extended to everything that he ever cared to take a hand in. There are few citizens in Belleville who have contributed more to her success than Arthur Eidman.

Chas. C. Ahrens

CHAS. C. AHRENS In the historic town of Lebanon, 111., the present sheriff of St. Clair County, Chas. C. Ahrens, was born on the 9th of December, 1875. He was but eleven years of age when his father died at O'Fallon, to which city the family had moved in 1882. He quit school at the age of fourteen to begin work in the mines. Shortly before this time he worked for a while on the form of S. C. Smiley, near O'Fallon. Many years were spent in the mines ,ind here he gained a thorough knowledge of the coal industry, and gradually worked his way up to a better position, hi 1916 Governor Deneen appointed him State Humane Officer, with his station on the Eads Bridge, in E. St. Louis. This office he held for four years, and then went hack into the mines for a time. In igio he was m.ide deputy sheriff under Ed. Petri, and was reappointed to this office when Mr. Schnipper became sheriff, and served m this capacity until 1926, when he was elected, by a large majority, sheriff of the county.

Mr. Ahrens is the father of three children. His wife, Victoria (Russell) Ahrens, was an O'Fallon lady, born on Feb. 17, 1876, at Arcadia, Mo., and was married to Mr. Ahrens on Nov. 28, when she was twenty years old. Virginia M., their oldest, died at the age of twenty-one. She was then the wife of Ernest Bernhardt. Their older son, Maurice R., IS a college graduate and has his home in Denver, Colorado, where he is employed as a salesman. Floyd C. is their younger son; he is now attending the Belleville Township High School.

Mr. Ahrens has rendered much service to O'Fallon. He has served for three terms as city treasurer, and as alderman for two terms; he was the secretary of the township high school board for four years, and of the city school board for an equal period; and for two years he was tax collector m O'Fallon Township. The miners" union selected him for their secretary and treasurer, which office he held for four years. For two years he was the secretary of the Masonic Lodge m O'Fallon. He is a Shriner in this lodge, and belongs also to the Eagles and to the Redman Lodge.

Frederick E. Merrills

B REDBRICK E. Merrills, one of Belleville's successful attorneys, was born in this same city on January 14, 1889, a son of Fred B. and Virginia Badgley Merrills. Frederick has two brothers, Marshall C. and Wayne, and one sister, Virginia. One of the early ancestors of this family was John Merrills, who came to America from England in 1640 and settled first m Newport, Massachusetts, and later in New Town, Connecticut. After the Revolutionary War the Merrills family came to St. Clair County, and here Sylvester Merrills was made county superintendent of schools - one of the very first in this section of the state.

The subject of this sketch, after attending the grade and the high school in Belleville, studied in a private academy m St. Louis and was graduated in 1907. Four years later he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, and in 191 2, a Master's Degree from the University ot Illinois. Since 191 3, the year he was admitted to the bar, Mr. Merrills has been practicing law.

On August 14, 191^, he was married to Mary E. Turner, a native of Belleville. Mrs. Merrills was born on January 9, 1890, was graduated from the local public schools, and, in 1909, from Mary Institute, of St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Merrills have two children - Mary J., born on April 6, 1917, and Virginia T., born on February 10, 1920.

Mr. Merrills is an Elk, and a Knight Templar in the Masonic Order. He is also a member of the Optimist Club, the University Club, the Harvard Club, and the St. Clair Country Club, having been president of the latter in 1924. He furthermore takes an active interest m the educational activities of his community, being at present the secretary of the board of education ot the township high school.

George C. Lindemann

GEORGE C. LINDEMANN ».CT that George Christian Lindemann, been the president of the Dupo State Savings Bank for the past fifteen years easily proves that he is the acme of efficiency and honesty. The people of this city have had much confidence in his integrity in the past, and will undoubtedly continue to hold him in high esteem in years to come. Mr. Lindemann was ushered into the world on March 10, 1877. He was born in Dupo, Sugar Loaf County, and was the son of Conrad and Catherine Lindemann - parents who carefully moulded his character. The elementary school training of this sketch was acquired in the grade school of Columbia, Illinois; a few years later he attended the Perkins and Herpel College, situated in the city of St. Louis. For the next twelve years, after his school work was completed, he did office work. In 1905 he came to Dupo and started in the real estate and insurance business, in which he is still interested.

In the winter of 1906, December 6, Mr. Lindemann was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Laura M. Dyroff. She was born on February 20, 1884, in the Sugar Loaf Township. This lady, who was a daughter of Louis Dyroff, is a splendid woman who has won the respect and admiration of not only her husband but of all who know her.

It was in 191 5 that Mr Lindemann organized the Dupo State Savings Bank, capitalized at $25,000.00. He was immediately made president of the institution, and has held this office ever since. His business activities are not limited to banking only, for his abilities have been recognized to such an extent that he has been appointed the treasurer and a director of the Dupo Building and Loan Association, an organization that has made possible the building of many homes by the people of Dupo. He laid out the Lindemann first sub'division of one hundred and thirteen acres, which was part of the old homestead, and on which Dupo's principal business houses now stand. For three years he has also been engaged as levee commissioner. Along educational lines Mr. Lindemann has rendered invaluable service to his community. He has acted in the capacity of school treasurer for five districts for a period of years extending from 191 4. He has also held the same office over the Dupo Community High School.

Anheuser And Ruth

Although he is occupied with his regular work during the greater part of his time, the subject of this sketch takes an interest in the social side of life. He is a Shriner in the Masonic Order, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Lindemann has travelled many miles in his lifetime, chiefly for recreation. This travelling has helped him materially and intellectually in many ways. His best loved outdoor sport is golf, at which he plays games with a low score. He also finds much pleasure in hunting and fishing. Mr. Lindemann's life has certainly exhibited the qualities of a sturdy, vibrating manhood, which is certainly the result of the careful training on the part of his parents, and his own personal ambitions. ANHEUSER AND RUTH

HN IDEAL partnership is that of John L. Anheuser and R. R. Ruth, who are dealers for the Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Oakland cars, and who conduct a business in automobile supplies. Both were born in Summerfield, 111., and both, after attending the public school in their home town, took a course in the Rehe Mechanical School of Kansas City, Mo. Afterwards both worked for Oliver C. Joseph, an automobile dealer in O'Fallon.

Mr. J. L. Anheuser was born December 19th, 1899, a''"l secured a high school education before entering the Rehe School. From the age of sixteen he has been greatly interested in the automobile industry, and is surely one of the best informed men on this business in this section of the county. His marriage to Miss Lorene A. Daniel was solemnized September 14th, 1921, and one girl, Dorris M., was born to them on M.irch 26th, 1924. Mr. Anheuser has been quite .1 successful business man for one of his age. He has been elected president of the O'Fallon Business Men's Association, belongs to the K. of C, and is a member of the local Rotary Club.

Mr. Ruth was born on the first day of February, iSSS. In iQiq he began a battery manufacturing business under the name of the Rainbow Manufacturing Co., at 1422 Pine Street. St. Louis, but sold this business in 192},, and came to O'Fallon to devote all of his time to the enterprise he had organized with Mr. Anheuser m 1919. He was married to Louisa M. Daggit on March loth, 191 1. and is now the father of two children - Dorris K. and Virginia R. Besides his interests in the auto business, Mr. Ruth also has interests in the Quality Dairy Products Co., of his city. He is a member of the Methodist Church, a Mason, and a member of the local Business Men's Association. Hunting is his hobby.

Messrs. Anheuser and Ruth are doing a large business m O'Fallon and m adjoining territory. They do all kinds of auto repair work m one of the most modernly equipped garages.

Oliver C. Joseph

IN Belleville and its neighboring towns may often be seen the name of Oliver C. Joseph on the rear of a passing Dodge. Mr. Joseph secured this agency, m St. Clair County, for the Dodge Bros, motor cars in 191=;, and so successful has been his management of this agency that hiS sales now amount to more than a half million dollars a year. His offices and sales rooms are located at 220-226 West Main St., Belleville, III., and are considered among the best and most up-to-date in the county. His place of business, with a frontage of no feet, gives ample space for displaying his cars, and enables him to have a very attractive show room. Before going into the automobile business Mr. Joseph was a school teacher for six years, but during most ot this time he was interested in autos and sold a number ot them. He is a native of St. Clair County, was born near O'Fallon, on Sept. 2, 1890, and received his public school education in the O'Fallon schools, graduating from the high school. He later entered the University of Illinois where he studied for a while, and also was a student m McKendree College. The first two years ot his teaching career were spent in a rural school ot the county, and the remaining four years he was the principal of the Summerfield schools.

Mr. Joseph has been married since June 10, 1914. His wife, formerly Miss Irma M. Seger, is the daughter of Fred and Mary Seger. The latter died during the past year (1926). Into

Oliver C Joseph

Three years after becoming an auto dealer, Mr. Joseph found his building in O'Fallon inadequate for his growing business, so he had his garage enlarged and brought up-todate. This was in 1918. A year before this time he had opened an office and sales room in Belleville, and in 1926 he bought the property where his large show rooms are now located, on Main Street.

Not all of Mr. Joseph's time is taken up with his business; he has time for recreation, and particularly for hunting, which 15 his preferred diversion. For his vacation he goes to the Rocky Mountains, m Wyoming and Idaho, where he enjoys the hunting and fishing opportunities offered by these regions. Recently he procured one hundred acres of land north of O'Fallon, and he proposes to make this one of the most delightful places for hunting and fishing in the county. A lake, two and a half acres in area, is to be stocked with several species of game fish, and many kinds of wild game are to be introduced upon this tract, such as pheasants, quails, foxes, etc.

In fraternal organizations, Mr. Joseph is prominent; he is a Mason, a Shnnerand a Knight Templarof this order; an Elk, and a member of the Optimist Club. He is also a member of the National Automobile Dealers' Association of America.

John F. Adelsberger

ON THE FIRST of Fehrmry, 1927. Mr. John F. Adelsberger, of Dupo, 111., celebrated his seventieth birthday. At this age he is still an active business man, operating as a dealer of coal, sand, and macadam. He came to St. Clair Ck)unty in 1880, from Tennessee, where he was born at Como, Weekly County, on February i, 1857 - the son of Joseph Theodore Adelsberger and Marguerite Hickman. His father was a native of the state of Maryland, born at Emmetsburg on April 10, 1822. Joseph Adelsberger was well educated for one of his day, and followed school teach' ing for a while, and then took up farming, first in Weekly County, Tenn., and afterwards in Franklin County, to which he had moved in 1864. In 1880 he retired, moved to Florida, and remained here until his death, which occurred on November 2, 1906. Mrs. Adelsberger died over forty years before this time - on January i, 1865.

There were born to them three sons and one daughter, one of whom, John F., the date of whose birth was given above, is the subject of this biography. He was given a good educa' tion in the public schools, and afterwards at Ewing College, in Jefferson County, 111. Upon leaving college he secured employment with Dr. Ray, who was engaged in the drug business, and who was the owner of a farm. It was his duty to collect for the doctor and manage the farm; this he did for two years. His next position was that of superintendent of a saw mill at Dresden. Tenn., a position which he held for six months, until 1880, when he moved to St. Clair County and began farming on rented land. Soon afterwards he bought a small farm which he ran for some years, and sold in 1910, the year he received the appointment as postmaster of Dupo. He served in this capacity for four years and then went into business as a dealer in sand, coal, and macadam.

It was on the 14th day of July, 1889, that he married Mane M. Jung, and their two daughters have long since grown to womanhood and married. Ida was born on July 2, 1891, and is now the wife of Wm. Broberg, of Chicago, and Mabel, who is married to John Fitzsimmons, of Dupo, was born on November 18, 1892.

Many years ago Mr. Adelsberger anticipated a great future for Dupo, and built for himself a good home there, and in addition bought much other property, and began dealing rather extensively in real estate. He has ever been interested in the welfare of his town; the record of his service to it makes this evident. He was four years its mayor - 1921 to 1925; has been a member of the school board from the time he first came to this county; served as the first president of the first board of education in Dupo; was the president of Sugar Loaf Township in 1916; has been Dupo's justice of the peace and its town clerk ; was one of the organizers of the Dupo State Bank and of the Building and Loan Association, in which latter organization he has always been one of the directors and served as chairman of its committee; was active in securing the first post office for Dupo; and has done much to promote the educational interests in his locality, lending his influence to help secure the new school building for his city. But his activities have not been confined within the limits of his own city; he held the office of supervisor of St. Clair County from 1888 to 1912 and was elected to that of highway commissioner in 1918. At present he is one of the school trustees for his township.

Nor do his activities end here. Mr. Adelsberger learned the construction business many years ago under W. B. Quily, under whose direction he worked as foreman for a long time. He constructed the first levee for the Prairie Dupont Levee fe? Drainage District, a district comprising about 1,600 acres lying one half in Sugar Loaf Township and the other half in Monroe County. Mr. Adelsberger has had some experience as a railroad building contractor, and has superintended construction work in the Missouri yards for five years. A more varied and more active career could hardly be found. His fraternal associations are with the Odd Fellows.

I business life of Mount Carmel for over forty years, first as a merchant and later as a banker. He is now president of the American National Bank of that city. He has for many years been one of the leading laymen in the Methodist Epis' copal Church, having been prominently identified with the work of the church, not merely in his home city, but throughout the Southern Illinois Conference. Three generations of the Mitchell family have lived in Southern Illinois, the residence of the family having been continuous since the admission of the state of Illinois into the union.

His grandfather, Sion F. Mitchell, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His forefathers, on coming from England, first settled in Connecticut, later went to North Carolina, and finally to Tennessee. He left Tennessee in 1818 and came to Illinois, settling in Franklin County. He was accompanied on that migration by Braxton Parrish. Jesse G. Mitchell, son of Sion F. and father of John M., was born in Franklin County in 1835, and spent his entire life there. At his wedding he gave the minister who performed the ceremony the only dollar he possessed. He was a school teacher before that time, later a farmer, and subsequently conducted a general store at Locust Grove, where he was a dealer in grain and tobacco, and for many years postmaster of the community. He proved his native ability by achieving a successful business c.ireer, and was at the same time a natural leader of men. He was married to Asenath E. Marvel, who was born in Posey County, Indiana, m 1837. She was a daughter of George R. Marvel, who served with the rank of colonel of the Forty-eighth Illinois Cavalry, during the Civil War. Mr. Mitchell was optimistic, generous, and good-natured. He was a local preacher m the Methodist Church and at all times exercised an influence for good. In 1880 he sold his farm and other business interests and moved to Benton, where he spent the remainder ot his lite, and died m 1894, at the age ot titty-nine.

John M. Mitchell, one of the five children of Jesse C, was born on a farm in Franklin County, July 16, 1862. After completing a high school education, he attended the Southern Normal University, at Carbondale, and m 1882 graduated from the Central Normal College, at Danville, Indiana. His experience outside of school had been acquired on his father's farm and m the store at Locust Grove and at Benton. Mr. Mitchell first engaged m business for himself m i88j, at Mt. Carmel. For some years he conducted a dry goods and clothing store, but m 1894 he sold his mercantile business and became a banker. He became president of the Wabash Savings Bank, of Mt. Carmel, and then of its successor, the American State Bank. In 1901 this became the American National Bank, of which he has been president for more than a quarter of a century. Other business enterprises have naturally attracted some ot his time and attention, and he has been the moving spirit of much constructive work in Mt. Carmel and vicinity. In politics he is a Republican. Fraternally he is a Mason, a Knight Templar, and a Shriner; a member of the Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Moose, and the Woodmen. In religion he is a Methodist. His influence in Methodism has not been confined to his own church or conference. Besides being superintendent of the Sunday School in his home church for more than thirty years, he served for eight years on the board of the World's Sunday School Association. He has also been a member of the Board of Control of the Epworth League, and for eight years he was on the Methodist Board of Foreign Missions. He IS a member of the General Conference of 1928, which is the sixth time he has been a lay delegate to that great ecclesiastical body. He has been for more than a quarter of a century a member of the board of trustees of McKendree College, and for eight years was president of that body. He has been for many years treasurer of the college endowment fund, and in this responsible position is the custodian of several hundred thousand dollars. In recognition of his eminent service to the institution, McKendree College conferred upon him, in the Centennial year, the degree of Doctor of Finance. On June i, 1886, he was married to Miss Delia Russell, of Mt. Carmel. She is a daughter of Charles R. and Frances Russell. Her grandfather, Abraham Russell, was a pioneer of Mt. Carmel, where he settled m 1817. The three daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are Grace, an instructor m the Christian College, at Columbia, Missouri, Frances, who is now Mrs. E. E. Fearheiley, of Mt. Vernon, and Elinor, wife of Loren C. Hill, of Mt. Carmel.

H MERCANTILE establishment so well-known to the people of Mascoutah Township is the Hagist General Merchandise Store m Mascoutah. It is one of the largest of its kind in the county, and one of the most complete retail stores in this section of the state. This business was established in i860 by E. F. Hagist, the grandfather of Oscar Hagist, whose life history we propose to set forth briefly in this article. The former was born in Baden, Germany, in 1828, and grew to manhood and received his education m his native land. At the age of twenty-three he left Germany to try his fortune in a strange land, landed here in 185 1, and settled on a farm near Belleville. A year later he bought some excellent farm land about one mile west of Mascoutah, and here he lived and farmed for several years, until i860, when he moved into Mascoutah, and began his long career as a merchant by opening a general merchandise store. He had married, in iS-Tj, Elizabeth Frey, and one son (E. R. Hagist) and one daughter (later, Mrs. Minnie Sauter) were born to them. E. R. Hagist, the father of Oscar Hagist, was born on the old home farm, August 17, 1857, an'i was given the best education which the schools of the community then offered. His schooling completed, he was taken into his father's store as a clerk, and performed his duties so faithfully, and took such an active interest in the business, that in 1880 the father made him a partner in the store, and changed the firm name to that of Hagist and Son. When the father died in 1906, E. R. Hagist became the owner of the store which had grown into a flourishing enterprise. In the same year that he became a partner with his father he was married to Miss Mary Richter, the daughter of a retired farmer who was then living in Mascoutah. By her he had five children, of whom our subject is the oldest. The names of the other children are: Alma, Arthur, Herman, and Theodore.

Oscar Hagist was born in Mascoutah, on Jan. 25, 1882. He attended the schools in Mascoutah until he had finished the high school, and then went into the store as did his other three brothers. After working for a time, he was made a partner with his father, and has continued in this relation until the present time. On Sept. 20, 1906, Mr. Hagist married Edna M. Rayhill, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Rayhili, whose biographies are recorded in this volume. The father is a retired farmer, and both he and his good wife are living in Mascoufcih, two of the city's senior and most respected residents. Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Hagist have had two sons. The elder, Rayhill O., was born June 20, 1910; the younger, E. Richard (Dick) on May 16, 1916.

capacities. Besides the large store which he helps to manage, he has many other businesses, as well as social interests. He is the vice-president of the First National Bank of Mascoutah; treasurer of the local Building and Loan Association; owner of the Hagist Produce Commission House, located on 209 North Fifth St., E. St. Louis; president of the Mascoutah Brick Company, which company he himself organized ; secre' tary of the Mutual Creamery Company; a director of the Midland Rubber Goods Company, and one who assisted in the organization of this company; and holds an interest in a Mascoutah coal mine. To meet all the responsibilities connected with these offices requires a business knowledge, and a skill in managing men and affairs, which few possess. Mr. Hagist is a hard worker, as well as a good business manager. He is a member of the Masonic Order, and has, for ten years, been honored with the highest position his city has to give - the mayor of Mascoutah.

Louis H. Waeltz

LOUIS H. WAELTZ *T^ GUIS H. Waeltz was born on the old .Waeltz farm I ^ (which was bought by his grandfather in 1864) near Marissa, September 27, 1886. Peter Waeltz, the father of Louis, was born on Dutch Hill, Jan. 12, i86o. After attending the public schools, he worked for his father until i88j, when he started independent farming, renting some of his father's 200 acres of land. Upon the death of his father in 1890, he took over the management of the entire farm. He married, in 1883, Anna M. K. Wibbing; the latter was born at Centralia, 111. on Sept. 3, 1865.

To Peter and Mrs. Waeltz were born seven children, on the following dates: Louis H., mentioned at the beginning of this sketch; Minnie C, April i, 1889, now the wife of Peter Schmierbauch; Bertha M., March i, 1891, married to George Browning; Anna C, March 2, 1893, now Mrs. William Schmierbauch; Dorothea M., Feb. 13, 1896, the

After securing a public school education, Louis Waeltz remained on the farm helping his father until the retirement of the latter m 1921. Then he rented the two hundred acres from his father, and later rented other land besides, until now he cultivates more land thar> any other farmer m the township. He is married and is the father of five children. Mrs. Waeltz was Caroline K. Grommet, the daughter of Henry J. and Sophia Grommet, and was born at Smithton, 111. on June 3, 1886, and was married to Mr. Waeltz on May 24, 1908. Lillian A. S., the oldest child of Louis and Mrs. Waeltz, was born July 15, 1909; May C. E. was born the i6th of May, 191 1 ; Albert P. H., on Nov. 3, 1913; Clifford W., on Oct. I, 1914; and the youngest, Loretta D., on June 17, 1919.

Mr. Waeltz raises a great many chickens and fine hogs. He owns a threshing machine and operates this himself. He has always been an industrious farmer, and is well-respected in his community. In 1914 he was elected clerk of the school board of District No. 44, and has kept this position since that time.

Edward W. Pfingsten

Mr. Pfingsten was a son of Henry and Wilhelmina Liena' mann Pfingsten, and was horn on May 8, 1868, m Stookey Township, St. Clair County, Illinois. He attended the public and religious evangelical schools, and, at the age of fourteen, began his work on the farm.

In 1894 Mr. Pfingsten began tarmmg for himself". Just six weeks later, on September q, he was united m the holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Emma L. Burg. The happy couple are parents of five children - two sons and three daughters. The sons are George A. and Arthur H.; and the daughters are Viola F., Ida E., and Florence L.

In church activities Mr. Pfingsten is a member and trustee of the Concordia Evangelical Church. He is also a member of the Bluff Grange Society.

First National Bank, of Millstadt, Illinois. For twenty-two years he has been a director of the Millstadt Telephone Company, and for three years president of this same company. He is also a stockholder in the Harrison Machine Works, of Belleville. For the past thirty-two years he has been a member of the school board, and a member of the high school board for five years. Since 191 j Mr. Pfingsten has held membership in the county board of supervisors of Stookey Township.

The present residence of Mr. Pfingsten, who has, indeed, led a life full of variety - from an ordinary, everyday farmer to the above mentioned activities - is Stookey Township, but his P. O. address is Centerville Station, 111.

PARIS CLEANING &? DYEING CO. >HE EFFICIENT MANAGER of the above firm, in Belleville, is Frank Sadorf, a native of Austria, born on Sept. 25, 1874. He secured his formal education in Austria, left school with one year of high school training, and began to learn the dyeing and cleaning business, working in four different countries of Europe before coming to America in December, 1902. He brought with him his wife, Anna Leber Sadorf, to whom he had been married shortly before, on Oct. 30, 1902. For several years he worked at his trade in St. Louis, and in 1905 opened, in Belleville, the business which he is still running. To him and Mrs. Sadorf have been born three children - two sons and one daughter. Frank N. Sadorf was born on April 6, 1904; Matt Sadorf, on Dec. II, 1906; and the daughter, Anna K. (now Mrs. Bert Johnson), on Dec. 26th, 1907. All three received a good education ; the boys are high school graduates and both attended the Belleville Business College. Frank was married on August 4, 1921, to Miss Cleo Erdman, and has one girl, Jean, born on July 28, 1922. Matt was married to Miss Norma Meyer, in Sept., 1923.

Mr. Sadorf learned thoroughly the art of cleaning and dyeing in his native land, and since coming to this land has studied to improve his knowledge of this trade. He taught this art to his sons, and in 1926 took them into the business with him, though he continues as the active manager of the firm. His son-in-law, Mr. Johnson, to whom his daughter was married on Sept. 2, 1924, is also a member of the firm. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have one son, whom they have named Bert, Jr., and who was born on May 13, 1926. Before entering his father-in-law's business, Mr. Johnson was employed as a clerk in a shoe store. He was born in Marissa, on April 5, 1904, and here he received a high school education. At present he takes care of the outside trade, and is the secretary of the Paris Company.

The plant operated by Mr. Sadorf and his partners is one of the most modern and best-equipped in the county, and does a great amount of work for residents in Belleville and for those in the towns of this vicinity, where there are many agencies. The property on which the plant is located was purchased in 1920, and the present building was constructed soon thereafter.

William H. Breuer

Mr. Sadorf belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, to the Business Men's Association, to the Turner Society, to the I. O. O. F., the Moose Lodge, the Elks, and the Eagles. This indicates a great capacity for social enjoyment. His choice recreations are fishing, hunting and bowling. WILLIAM H. BREUER

ONE OF THE first families to settle near Dupo, 111. and actively engage in farming there, was that of Christian Breuer. He was the father of William Breuer, the subject of this biographical sketch, and was born in Germany in 1836. William Breuer's mother, Sophia Kroeger Breuer, was also born in Germany. Christian Breuer and his wife came to this country many years ago, as did many other industrious and ambitious German immigrants, and settled in St. Louis County, Missouri. Later the family moved to Dupo, and bought a small farm, adding more land to this farm as soon as conditions permitted.

William was a member of a large family; his father had eight children. He was born in St. Louis County on the 29th of July, in 1861, at a time when this country was on the verge of a great civil war. No doubt these were anxious days for his parents. After attending the school in Sugar Loaf Township, he worked for his father on the farm until 1893. On the 27th of September of that year, he was married to Miss Katie Diehl, the daughter of Christian Diehl and Lazetta Young Diehl. Like her husband, Mrs. Breuer was also from a large family; she was one of seven children, and her father, too, was born in Germany, April i, 1832. Her mother, however, was born in Sugar Loaf Township, on June 26, 1848. Both of Mrs. Breuer's parents are dead, the father having passed away on the 9th of August, 1881, while he was still in the prime of life, and the mother on November 16, 1916. Mr. Diehl was an industrious farmer, and owned 120 acres of land on the bluffs above Dupo. Mrs. Breuer was born on January 4, 1870, in Sugar Loaf Township, the birthplace of her mother, and there she attended the public schools.

Mr. and Mrs. Breuer have three children - Matilda E. Breuer, born on July 5, 1894; Henry J. Breuer, born on September 22, 1896; and Charles William Breuer, born on June 24, 1899. Two of their children are now living, Charles William having died on the i8th of September, 1920.

After his marriage, Mr. Breuer farmed on the Bluffs for six years; afterwards he bought the twelve-acre farm belonging to his father's estate and continued farming here, adding to these twelve acres, after a time, seventeen acres more. Truck farming was his specialty, and he continued trucking until ig22. when he retired from active farm life. But though he has retired and has rented his farm, Mr. Breuer has not lost his interest m farming.

Mr. Breuer has been quite a successful farmer. By industry, hard work, and careful management, he has been able to accumulate enough to live in comfort the rest of his life. From time to time he has purchased additional properties, and now he is considered one of the affluent residents of his community. He built, on his farm in 1902, a fine residence and modern substantial barns; and he increased his land holdings by buying another forty acre farm, north of Dupo, in 1914. In 1923 he built the residence in which he now lives, within a convenient distance from his farm, which is located m the city limits of Dupo.

Mr. Breuer is a Modern Woodman. He has taken an interest m the schools of his community, serving as a member of the local school board for six years. He has been quite a successful farmer, and after having spent more than forty years at hard work on the farm he deserves to retire and enjoy the fruits of his labors. He can well feel proud of the fact that he is one of that great class of sturdy German farmers who, by sheer hard work, by good habits of industry and economy, have contributed so much to American agriculture and to our national wealth and prosperity.

Earl E. Asbury

eARL E. AsBURY, of O'Fallon, IS the son of James W Asbury, and a brother of Dr. E. C. Ashury of New Baden, a sketch of whose life appears on another page of this volume. Earl was born at Summerfield, in this county, Nov. 14th, 1894. He studied in the grade schools and the high school of O'Fallon, graduating in 1916, and in the fall of this year entered McKendree College, where he remained for one term. He served in the Army in 1917-1918, and after leaving the service, settled in O'Fallon, and established himself in the real estate and insurance business, in which business his father had engaged.

He married a girl from his community. Miss Josephine Lienesch, who was born near O'Fallon, on June 29th, 1899. She is the daughter of George W. and Louise Lischer Lienesch, who lived on a farm until the death of the father on Feb. 27th, 1Q22. Mrs. Lienesch now lives m O'Fallon. The daughter received her early education in the Shiloh schools, and afterwards attended the O'Fallon High School, graduating m 1917. Then she made special preparation for teaching, studied one term m the Normal University at Normal, 111., and one summer m the Teachers College of St. Louis. Her first year of teaching was in the Shiloh School, the following four years in the Grassland School, and the year before her marriage to Mr. Asbury, she taught in O'Fallon. She was married on June 23, 1923, and has two boys. Earl E. Jr., born on May jist, 1924 and James W., born Aug. 18, 1927.

Mason, and a Shriner in this Order; a member of the local Business Men's Association, of the American Legion, of the Rotary Club and of the Shiloh Valley Grange. For two years he served as Tax Collector for the O'Fallon Township, and since 1925 he has held the office of Justice of the Peace. His father entered the real estate and insurance business in O'Fallon in 1904, and his son Earl in 1918. He sells general insurance of practically every kind. Owing to the activities of O'Fallon's wide-awake and enterprising real estate men, to which group Mr. Asbury belongs, this city has developed noticeably, and built many fine homes during the last decade. When Mr. Asbury has time for recreation, and when the season is favorable, he enjoys fishing and hunting.

The Akers Family

Peter Akers, the pioneer preacher, born in Virginia in 1790, came to Illinois in i8j2 and spent the remaining fiftyfour years of his life as a member of the Illinois Conference. Early in this volume is told the story of his intimate connection with McKendree, having been three times president of the institution, and having received the first degree which the college ever conferred - that of Doctor of Divinity.

There is also a sketch of his son, Joshua Soule Akers, who was named after one of the early bishops of the church, and who spent fifty-three years in the ministry, a large part of it on the frontier borders of Methodism in Wisconsin and South Dakota. He received his bachelor's degree from McKendree in 1868, and that of D. D. in 1894.