Joseph Charless

Cliarles.'i, Joseph, founder of the first newspaper established in.'t. Louis, was born in Westmeath, Ireland, July 16, 1772, and died in St. Louis in 1834. Of Welsh origin, the family to which he belonged emigrated to Ireland in 1663, and in his young manhood Joseph Charless was a participant in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. After the failure of that patriotic movement to establish the independence of Ireland, he fled to France, and came from there to the United States. He was a printer by trade, and some time after his arrival in this country joined Matthew Carey, the noted publisher — who was also an Irish refugee — in Philadelphia. Carey was an intimate friend of the public men of that day, and, while in his employ, Charless formed the acquaintance of such distinguished Americans as Dr. Ben. Franklin. Alexander Hamilton and others, and it was an acquaintance with Henry Clay which probably brought about his removal from Philadelphia to Kentucky. He became a resident of Lexington in the year 1800, removed to Louisville in 1806, and came from there to St. Louis in 1808. Here he founded the "Missouri Gazette." of which the present great daily journal, known as the "Republic," is the legitimate successor. He was a warmhearted, generous Irish gentleman, who lives in history as the father of St. Louis journalism. His widow, who was Mrs. Sarah Mc- Cloud before her marriage, lived to the advanced age of eight-one A-ears, and died in St. Louis. The'ir son, JOSEPH CHAR- LESS, banker and financier, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, January 17, 1804, and died in St. Louis, June 4, 1859. As soon as he had mastered the rudiments of an education he was put to the printer's trade in the office of the "Missouri Gazette," but later was sent to Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky, at which he completed his education. He then studied law under Francis Spalding, who was at that time a leading member of the bar of St. Louis, and later graduated from the law school of Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky. The practice of law did not, however, prove congenial to him, and, associating himself with his father, who had sold his interest in the "Missouri Gazette." they established themselves, in 1828, in the wholesale drug business in St. Louis. He soon demonstrated that he had a genius for trade, and built up what was considered in those days a vast business, becoming an importer and manufacturer, as well as a jobber of drugs. He was never a public man in the sense of being a politician or office-holder, although he was always somewhat prominent in the councils of the old hig party, with which he alTiliated. As a promoter of the welfare of St. Louis, however, and a moving spirit in advancing its commercial and industrial interests, he was, in the broadest sense, a public man. He participated in municipal legislation and the conduct of municipal affairs, serving as a member of the Board of Aldermen and a director of the public schools, because he was deeply interested in securing good government for the city and in advancing its educational interests, and not to gratify any personal ambition for official preferment. His recognized ability as a man of affairs caused him to be designated by the Governor to act as president of the State Bank of Missouri, and at a later date he was president of the Mechanics' Bank, establishing the reputation of being a safe and conservative banker and an unusually sagacious financier. He was a director, also, of the Pacific Railroad Company, and his unimpeachable integrity and high standing as a business man earned for him the respect and confidence of the entire conmumity in which he lived. He was looked to, in his day, as a leader in forwarding all enterprises having for their object the upbuilding of the city, and the strong impress of his individuality has been left upon the history of St. Louis. He was the firm friend of education and educational institutions, and aided in founding Washington University, which has since become one of the leading colleges of the West. He was among the founders, also, of various charitable and benevolent institutions, and one who gave wisely and judiciously to alleviate the sufferings of his fellow men and to improve the condition of those dependent upon the public for support. An elder in the Presbyterian Church, he was a man of deep and unaffected piety, and under all circumstances a consistent Christian gentleman. He met his death, strangely enough, at the hand of an assassin, against whom he had once been compelled to bear witness in a court of justice, and who expiated his crime on the gallows, November 11, 1859. After his death the Chamber of Commerce, the board of directors of the Mechanics' Bank, the church extension committee of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church,

As printed in Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.