Lewis B. Tebbetts

As printed in 1899

Tebbetts, Lewis B., was born at Great Falls, Xew Hampshire, August 30, 1834. His parents were Lewis B. and Rebecca (Roberts) Tebbetts, his ancestry on the father's side being English stock, honorably connected with the first settlement of Rochester, Xew Hampshire. When the subject of this sketch was but a few weeks old the family moved to Newbury, Vermont, on the Connecticut River, where the father engaged in mercantile business, and where the children had the advantage of a flourishing seminary, of which Hester Ann, the eldest sister, subsequently became principal. About 1844 the family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, and it was in the excellent grammar and high schools of tli.it city that the subject of this sketch red the chief part of his education. About 11 1855. Mr. Tebbetts being then of age, went to Baltimore, and engaged in mercantile and manufacturing pursuits, for which he revealed a high capacity for management, and during the Civil War was placed in superintendence over an extensive establishment, which undertook large and important contracts with the government for gunboats and ammunition. Mr. Tebbetts, in 1859, was married, at Lowell, Massachusetss, to Miss Ellen Mansur, sister of the late Alvah Mansur, and in 1874, when the Mansurs came to St. Louis, Mr. Tebbetts came also, and in connection with his brother-in-law established the house which, first under the name of Deere, Mansur & Co., and afterwards as the Mansur & Tebbetts Implement Company, became, and still is, famous throughout the West for the extent of its operations and the superiority of its work. It is now an incorporated company, with Mr. Tebbetts as president, and the large success that has attended it is due, in no small measure, to Mr. Tebbetts' vigorous and admirable management. His capacity for business is recognized and appreciated in St. Louis, and his name and co-operation are esteemed a guaranty of prudent management and success in all commendable enterprises. He belongs to that class of business men who have the happy faculty of conducting their affairs with military precision, and hence are able to transact a vast amount of business with comparative ease. Perfect system in everything, and admirable method in supervising the affairs of a great commercial institution, have enabled him to dispatch business with unusual rapidity, and while he has been one of the busiest of busy men, he has always seemed to have time for everything which claimed his attention, and to be never too much engaged to give a courteous hearing to those who seek interviews with him. In this material age the minds which bend themselves to commercial and industrial pursuits are such as would have been absorbed with matters of statecraft, or in the direction of armies of conquest, a few generations since, and, as "Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war," Mr. Tebbetts is a typical representative of that class of modern business men, whose tact, sagacity and executive ability have enabled them to achieve such victories. Besides conducting one of the large commercial houses of the city, he is identified with the banking interests of St. Louis as a director of the Continental National Bank, and is interested in various other enterprises. Church and charitable work has also been a matter of interest to him at all times, and when any appeal is made to the good people of St. Louis, who have kindly nature and responsive sympathies, he is never overlooked. A member of the Noonday and other clubs, he keeps in close touch with the social, as well as the business, life of the city.

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.