Robert McCreery

As printed in 1899

McCreery, Phocion Robert, merchant, was born in Hartford, Kentucky, in 1816, and died in St. Louis in 1861. His parents were Dr. Charles and Ann Wayman (Crow) McCreery, and his father enjoyed the distinction of being the most eminent surgeon in Kentucky in the early history of that State. Although many generations of the McCreerys have lived in America, the name is indicative of the Scotch origin of the family. This branch of the family, however, came to America by the way of the North of Ireland, James McCreery having removed to that country from Scotland toward the close of the sixteenth, or at the beginning of the seventeenth, century. John McCreery, one of the two sons of the Scotch emigrant to Ireland, came from County Donegal to America, in the year 1730, and settled in Maryland. From that State the ancestors of Phocion R. Mc- Creery came to Kentucky, and there the subject of this sketch was reared and educated. He was fitted by early training and occupation for mercantile pursuits, and in the year 1836, when he was twenty years of age, he came to St. Louis, to become connected with the wholesale dry goods house of Crow & Tevis.

McLURE.

had been established a year earlier by his relative and former townsman, Nae Crow, in company with Joshua Tevis, of Phi Me hat he had adelphia. He soon demonstrated t e a genius for the business of merchandising, and, ina comparatively short time, became a partner in the famous mercantile house which is still in existence as the Hargadine-McKittrick Dry Goods Company. He continued to be a member of the firm, with which he thus became associated, until the end of his life, sharing in its prosperity, and also in the commercial honors which it gathered by years of honorable dealing and sagacious trade operations. The success of this business enterprise gave to Mr. McCreery, in the course of time, a large amount of surplus capital, and this capital was used to improve and build up the city, and to advance the interests of its educational and other public institutions. While he was in all respects a sagacious man, and at all times careful in his operations, he was, at the same time. a man of broad views, excellent judgment and keen perceptions, and, having abundant confidence in the future of St. Louis, he did not hesitate to make improvements, which were thought, by some of his contemporaries, to be far in advance of the demands of the times. In 1860 he erected, at the southeast corner of Broadway and Chestnut Street, what was, at that time, by far the finest office building in the West, and the wisdom of his action was fully proven by the developments of later years. Many enterprises which contributed materially to the growth of the city, and especially to the advancement of its commercial interests, were stimulated and promoted by his efforts and activity. Looking to the future, he builded for the future, and those who came after him profited by his wise forecasts and his intelligent discernment. In company with the senior member of the firm to which he belonged, he was one of the founders of Washington University, and was a munificent door to that institution, and to many other city institutions, designed for the educational and moral betterment of St. Louis, and to provide for the care of those dependent upon public charity. Liberal in his religious views, as in everything else, he was a Unitarian churchman, and the warm, personal friend of Rev. Dr. Elliott, of that church. Politically, he was identified with the Democratic party, and supported Stephen A. Douglas for the’ presidency which in the last national campaign occurring, his death, but aside from expressing his $ victions through the casting of his vote a gave little attention to politics or political i fairs. He was married, in 1846, to Miss le ginia Hynes, daughter of General Andres Hynes, of Nashvilie, Tennessee, who Was x participant in the War of 1812, and served f the staff of General Andrew Jackson at the ban tie of New Orleans. The children of Mr. and Mrs. McCreery were Anna, Hynes, Wayman C., Lavinia, Mary, William and Maggie Me. Creery, of whom Anna, Wayman C., and Lavinia McCreery are now living.

£ before

As printed in Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (v. 3) (1899). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.