Corwin H. Spencer

As printed in 1899

Spencer, Corwin H., was born December 13, 1851, in Morgan County, Ohio, son of David and Angeline (Israel) Spencer. His father was a farmer, and the son obtained as a boy such education as he could gain in the country schools of Morgan County, supplemented later by a course of study at the High School of Malta, Ohio. Until he was seventeen years old, he worked on his father's farm, and thereafter for several years added to both his intellectual and financial resources by teaching school during the winter months of each year. In 1873 he went to McConnellsville, Ohio, where he was employed as a clerk in a general store, and gained his first experience in mercantile pursuits. In 1874 he came to St. Louis, and after completing a course of study at Bryant & Stratton's College, which consumed most of the money he had saved up to that time, he entered the old house of Harlow, Gelston & Co., as a bookkeeper and grain salesman. He quickly mastered the intricacies of the grain trade, and in 1876 became a member of the firm, which then took the name of Harlow, Spencer & Co. Their business was prosperous, and they were among the leaders of the St. Louis market until 1882, in which year, on account of large advances to farmers in the Mississippi Valley, who were unable to meet their obligations in consequence of there having been three consecutive years of crop failures, due to floods and river overflows, the firm was compelled to suspend operations. Undaunted by this ill fortune, Mr. Spencer began anew, entering into an arrangement with the firm of W. T. Anderson & Co., under which that firm furnished capital with which he purchased grain on joint account. This venture was a success from the beginning, and, in a short time, he had retrieved his losses and was again among the leaders of St. Louis' grain interests. In 1889 he organized the firm of C. H. Spencer & Co., and in 1890, having purchased the elevator at Madison, Illinois, this firm was reorganized and incorporated as the C. H. Spencer Grain & Elevator Company. He continued to act as president and general manager of that company until July i, 1897, when, on account of failing health, he closed out his St. Louis business. After spending a short time in. Southern California, which resulted in greatly improving his health, he returned to St. Louis and to active business life. Since then he has devoted his time mainly to the operation of the Southern Electric Railway, he having been elected president of the corporation owning that line in 1897. The stock of this corporation is largely owned and controlled by himself and the estate of Charles F. Orthwein. Under his management the business of the line has grown steadily and rapidly, and the stock of the corporation has greatly increased in value. He is also president of the Xational Railway Company. As in earlier years, he is still a leading spirit ''on 'Change," and his views concerning market conditions are as much sought after by operators on the floor of the Merchants' Exchange at the present time as ever before. He was elected president of the Merchants' Exchange in 1896, after one of the most hotly contested campaigns since the organization of the Exchange. At the end of his term he retired from that office with the reputation of having been one of its most popular and efficient presidents. For the past two years he has been chairman of the board of managers of the St. Louis Traffic Bureau, an organization which seeks to obtain for St. Louis the best possible transportation rates and facilities, and in that capacity he has done much to protect and promote the trade and manufacturing interests of the city. He has also been conspicuously identified with the Business Men's League, and is vice-president of that organization. He is interested in the grain trade outside of St. Louis as a large stockholder and director in the Allen. Grier & Zeller Grain Company, of Chicago, and is a member of the New York Produce Exchange. His knowledge of crop conditions caused him to be a leader in the market during the season of 1897-8, but, unlike Mr. Leiter, of Chicago, when wheat reached its actual value he sold out, realizing a handsome profit for himself and his associates. He is a director in the Continental National Bank of St. Louis, and in business circles is recognized as a capable and sagacious financier. He has long enjoyed, also, the enviable distinction of being a thoroughly public-spirited man, ready to respond to any appeal in aid of movements to promote the commercial or industrial prosperity of the city, and equally ready to aid its charities and all the agencies for the betterment of social and moral conditions, identified with the Republican party politically, he has from time to time taken an active interest in promoting its welfare and advancing the principles for which it stands. He is a Presbyterian churchman and a generous friend of the church and kindred institutions. A member of the St. Louis, Commercial, Noonday, and Country Clubs, he is in close touch with the social, as well as the commercial, life of St. Louis. February 23, 1875, he married Miss Mary E. Harlow, of Kimmswick, Missouri. Their children are Harlow Bates, Ruth Anne, Lula, and Hazel Spencer.

Spencer, Seidell P., lawyer and jurist, was born in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1862, son of Samuel Selden and Eliza Deborah (Palmer) Spencer. His early educational training was obtained in the public schools of Erie, and he was then fitted for college at Hopkins' Grammar School, of New Haven, Connecticut. At the end of his grammar school course he entered Yale College, and was graduated with honors from that institution in the class of 1884. Immediately after his graduation from Yale he came to St. Louis, his intention being to fit himself for admission to the bar, and to then enter upon the practice of law in the West. Entering the St. Louis Law School, he began at the same time a dilligent course of reading and study, outside of the law school, and in 1885, a year before his graduation, he was admitted to practice in the Circuit Court of St. Louis. He entered upon his professional career in this city immediately after receiving his bachelor's degree from the law school, and in a comparatively short time had impressed himself upon the public and the bar as a young man of very ' superior attainments. He had at the beginning also the happy faculty of making friends wherever he went, and soon gained wide personal popularity, as well as an established position at the bar. In 1895 ne was nominated for member of the State House of Representatives, on the Republican ticket, and. being elected to that body, took rank among its ablest members. As a legislator he was conscientious, high-minded, true to the best interests of the people at large and the constituency which he represented, a tireless worker and faithful and competent public servant. He was chairman of the House committee on banks and banking, a member of the committees on judiciary, ways and means, militia, rules, and of the "Republican steering committee," serving the last named committee as its secretary. Although one of the youngest members of the House of Representatives, he was throughout its session one of its recognized leaders, and influenced to a large extent its legislation and policies. In 1896 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for judge of the Circuit Court of St. Louis, and at the ensuing general election was chosen to that office by a flattering majority. Since he donned the judicial ermine he has proven himself master of the situation, as he has of every other situation in which he has been placed since he became a citizen of St. Louis. A scholarly and refined gentleman, he is at the same time vigorous in thought and action, and his progressive methods as a judge of the court, his fairness and courtesy to lawyers and litigants, and his unswerving rectitude, have won for him the highest commendation. Promptness in meeting every engagement, admirable precision and a happy faculty of dispatching the business of the court rapidly have been distinguishing characteristics of his administration on the bench. In 1898 he was elected president of the Missouri Bar Association. In December of 1898 he was elected secretary of the Missouri Conference of Judges, an organization composed of the judiciary of the State, which was formed for the purpose of considering and reporting to the Legislature upon omissions, uncertainties and incongruities in the statute law. In this office he was the successor of Judge Shepard Barclay, who had shortly before that retired from the supreme bench. From the time of his coming to St. Louis up to the present he has been known as a firm believe in the principles of the Republican party. For several years he filled the chair of medical jurisprudence in Missouri Medical College, and he has never ceased to be interested in advancing the cause of popular education. He is a member of the St. Louis and Mercantile Clubs, and is an active worker in church circles, and a generous friend of benevolent institutions. Judge Spencer married Susan B. Brookes, daughter of Rev. James H. Brookes, D. D., for many years one of the most noted of Western clergymen. Their children are James Brookes, Selden Marvin and Oliver McLean Spencer.

As printed in Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography (v. 4) (1899). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.