Walter Williams - A history of northwest Missouri

A history of northwest Missouri

Walter Williams

NORTHWEST MISSOURI
EDITED BY
WALTER WILLIAMS
Assisted By
Advisory and Contributing Editors
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOLUME II
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MI SSOURI

JAMES H. McCoRD. The growth of a great enterprise in a city is a compendium of the expansion and development of the city itself, for the latter is but a gathering of men and their families, who are in some way identified with the furthering of thes e transactions. The great City of St. Joseph, with its heterogeneous industries and far-reaching trade and commerce, owes its marvelous growth and prosperity to its position as a distributing center of the products of a vast country, and its concentration of production; but it is no less indebted to the great business houses, and the enterprising men who have developed them from modest beginnings to phenomenal. size. One of the largest and most important commercial concerns of St. Joseph is the wholesale g r ocery house of Nave-McCord Mercantile Company, which under the directing head and hand of its president, James H. McCord, continues to meet with the prosperity which it enjoyed under its founder, the late James McCord.

James H. McCord was born at Savannah, Missouri, November 2, 1857, and is a son of James and Mary E. (Hallack) McCord. The family came originally from the North of Ireland, the progenitor settling in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1735, where, in the publi c records the name appears in 1740, when John McCord signed the document calling for a Presbyterian minister. In 1750 record is found in Albemarle County, Virginia, of Robert Field, the maternal great-great-grandfather of James H. McCord, and honorable men t ion is made of John Field, hisgreat-grandfather, as a captain in the Eighth Virginia Regiment in the War of 1812. William McCord, the grandfather of James H. McCord, was prosecuting attorney for Randolph County, Virginia, from 1829 to 1836, and in the lat t er year removed his family to Cape Girardean, Missouri, and later to Versailles, Morgan County, Missouri, where he resumed the practice of law, but died shortly after, in October, 1839. His. widow, Sally Moss (Field) McCord, survived him thirteen years, d y ing at Savannah, Missouri, in 1852.

James McCord, the father of James H. McCord, was thrown upon his resources at an early age. Born in Randolph County, Virginia, January 7, 1826, before he was fifteen years of age, in 1840, he entered upon a business car eer which later carried his name into almost every state in the union. He started as a clerk in a country store at Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri, his duties being faithfully performed the first year with no remuneration except his board, but he had beco m e valuable enough to his employers by the second year to receive a salary of $75,. which was increased the third year to $100. In 1843 he went to Warsaw, Missouri, and worked in the same capacity, receiving his board and $150, which was increased to $250 i n 1844. Better than this, he had by his fidelity to his employer's interests so won the latter's confidence that he was made representative to St. Louis and New Orleans, and later to

other points. In 1846, feeling well qualified through his years of exper ience to enter upon a career of his own, he embarked in business for himself, forming a partnership with Abram Nave, his brother-in-law, at Savannah, Andrew County, where the latter was engaged in business at that time. This personal friendship and busine s s association continued unbroken for a period of fifty-two years, the death of Mr. Nave terminating the connection. The two partners established a business at Oregon, Holt County, where James McCord remained until 1849, in which year he made some preparat i ons to make the trip to California by sea, but later changed his mind and abandoned the journey, remaining in Northwest Missouri. However, in April, 1850, he crossed the plains to the Golden State, and remained on the Pacific Coast until the following yea r , when he returned to Savannah, Missouri. In 1852, better prepared by his previous experience, he made a second trip, in company with Abram Nave, Charles L. Clark and D. M. Steele, on this occasion driving a herd of cattle across the plains. This business proved very remunerative, and was repeated for several years, or until it became unprofitable. In the meantime Mr. McCord and his partner continued the mercantile establishment at Savannah, and now came to a realization of the business opportunities offer e d them by the opening of travel and the rapid settlement of new localities. That they were men equal to the occasion, the great commercial concerns which now recall their names in a half a dozen states fully attest. In 1857 a wholesale grocery business wa s established at St. Joseph, under the firm name of Nave, McCord & Company; in 1861 followed the establishment of a similar establishment at Omaha, Nebraska, with Charles L. Clark as resident partner; in 1865, the firm of C. D. Smith & Company was founded a t St. Joseph, Missouri, with Abram Nave, James McCord, D. M. Steele and C. D. Smith as partners, the last-named being the manager. In 1868. Leach, Nave & Company, which later became McCord. Nave & Company, was established at Kansas City, Missouri, and in 871, Nave, Goddard & Company, later Nave & McCord entered into the commercial life of St. Louis, Missouri. At the time of his decease, September 24, 1903, Mr. McCord was connected with the following large business houses: The Nave McCord Mercantile Compan y , of St. Joseph, of which he was president, a business established in 1846, incorporated in 1880, and reiucorporated in 1900; the McCord-Brady Company of Omaha, Nebraska; the McCord-Chapman-Greer Mercantile Company, of Pueblo, Colorado; the McCord-Collins Company, of Fort Worth, Texas; the McCord-Collins Mercantile Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the Smith-McCord Dry Goods Company, of Kansas City, Missouri; the Kistler-Metzler Mencantile Company, of Topeka, Kansas; the Sentry Wholesale Grocery Company, of Ilutchinson, Kansas; the Henry Krug Packing Company, of St. Joseph, Missouri; the James McCord Realty Company, of St. Joseph, Missouri; and the Nave & McCord Cattle Company, the owners of a ranch of 100,000 acres in Garza County, Texas. Since his death some changes have been made in the names of the above companies, although the major portion have retained his name for the prestige which it carries with it. Only a mind of unusual strength, persistent grasp and broad sweep of abilities could have managed these varied and enormous interests, or have earned such signal success in a field crowded with competitors. As a man and a citizen Mr. McCord stood high. In every public enterprise he was a stanch worker and a liberal contributor, and in private charity n o deserving appeal was addressed to him in vain. His success in the business world was phenomenal, and a more notable illustration of the exercise of American energy, ability, integrity and superior management has never been known than

that exhibited by t he great house of which he wan che fouuder, which has achieved a national reputation, and by its able management and steady development, has secured to St. Joseph much prestige in the commercial world.

James McCord was married October 5, 1854, to Miss Mar y E. Hallack, who was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, February 28, 1836, and to this union there were born nine children, as follows: William H., residing in Omaha, Nebraska; James H.; Samuel S., of St. Joseph, Missouri; Susan Alice, who is deceased; L ucy, who married J. Harry Parker, Jr., of St. Joseph; Mary Ada, who married J. Burnett Collins, of Fort Worth, Texas, deceased; George L., of Denver, Colorado; Robert H., of Kansas City, Missouri; and Francis, who is deceased. The mother is still living i n the old homestead place in St. Joseph, which she has occupied for fifty years. She is a woman of Christian character, is still active, and is devoting her time to various charities and missionary work in connection with the First Presbyterian Church of S t . Joseph, of which she is the oldest living member.