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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 American Silver before sterling
 St. Louis connection
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| Author | Topic: St. Louis connection |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 08-16-2005 09:50 PM
  
The April 2002 issue of the Missouri Historical Review had an article entitled “A Friend of the Enemy” Federal Efforts to Suppress Disloyalty in St. Louis During the Civil War. Included in this article was mention of a Margaret A. McLure. Mrs. McLure was a St. Louis resident who was arrested by Union soldiers in 1863, had her belongings confiscated and was then deported to Vicksburg, Mississippi. She remained in the South until the end of the war and after the war returned to St. Louis to become the first president of the first chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. She also was instrumental in the founding of the Confederate Home of Missouri in Higginsville for the care of indigent veterans. Several web sites provide information about Mrs. McLure including: Gratiot Street Prison This was of interest to me as McLure is the family name of my wife. A short time after this article was published a typical 1850s Missouri coin spoon marked “E Mead & Co. pure coin” and engraved “McLure” appeared on a popular internet auction site. The St. Louis connection with Edward Mead, the pre-civil war style of the spoon and the name McLure was too obvious to overlook. Luckily I was able to buy it and return it to another McLure. If this was not Margaret’s spoon that was taken by the Yankees, it should have been. A short time after this purchase, what should appear on the same auction site, but a cake saw, engraved “McLure”, in one of Freeman Durgin’s beautiful patterns. This St. Louis silversmith no doubt made this post-civil war cake saw for Margaret after her sojourn in Vicksburg and successful return to St. Louis. Again, it has been returned to a McLure. IP: Logged |
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Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 |
posted 08-17-2005 10:17 AM
I just had to point out that Julia Boggs Dent, a Saint Louis native, married an unknown West Point graduate by the name of Ulysses S. Grant in 1848. Her wedding silver, with spoons by Jaccard of St. Louis and forks by Doty (I think a New Yorker) is just like the McLure silver. Saint Louis was a City divided. Col. Dent, Julia's father, was a resolute Confederate in his sympathies, even tho' his son-in-law became head of the Union army. Three of Ulysses's four groomsmen later surrendered to him at Vicksburg and Appomattox. IP: Logged |
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swarter Moderator Posts: 2920 |
posted 08-17-2005 11:34 AM
Always nice to see provenance resurrected. Congratulations on being so alert, and thsnks for sharing. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 08-17-2005 11:48 PM
Charles Van Ravenswaay in his book “Saint Louis, An Informal History of the City and its People, 1764-1865” notes that Ulysses S. Grant moved to Galena, Illinois after he lost his attempt to obtain an appointment as county engineer in St. Louis. Apparently, Frederick Dent’s anti-abolitionist sentiment did not sit well with the pro-Union commissioners in St. Louis and they did not want to give the post to anyone that might share his views. Grant’s father advanced him the money to make the move to Galena and Grant entered the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers in June 1861. The Jaccard family of silversmiths started in St. Louis when Louis Jaccard, a native of Ste. Croix, Switzerland arrived in St. Louis in 1827. He was later joined by Eugene Jaccard and D. Constant Jaccard who were born in Ste. Croix, Switzerland. Ruth Hunter Roach in her book “St. Louis Silversmiths” notes that the Jaccards were French Huguenots, coming from the Jacquard family who founded the Jacquard Looms near Lyons, France. Later on the Jaccard firm hired Freeman A. Durgin as designer and salesman. I have in my notes that Freeman Durgin was related to William B Durgin; however I have lost the source of this connection. For those living in St. Louis the pronunciation of Jaccard is “Jack-ard”. While St. Louis was founded by the French in 1764 and still has many street and place names dating to the founding French settlers, little notice is given to how the French would pronounce their words or names. IP: Logged |
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Dale Posts: 2132 |
posted 08-22-2005 01:07 PM
Curious little side note to this discussion. St Louis also had a huge influx of German immigrants beginning in the 1840's. Are there any known examples of German type silver being made their by immigrant smiths for their countymen? Just wondering if silver was entirely the province of the Anglo French population. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 08-24-2005 06:26 PM
St. Louis did have several Germans set up shop selling silver articles in the 1840s or 50s, including Louis Bauman, John Bolland, Meyer Friede, Louis Megede, Henry Menkins, Ludwig Meyer and Joseph Pfeifer to name a few. From the silver I have seen, that is marked with a St. Louis or Missouri smith or retailer, I would hesitate to say that any of it had any German influence. For the German settlements in out state Missouri, Van Ravenswaay in his book "The Arts and Architecture of German Settlements in Missouri" states that a George Bauer and his son John lived in Jefferson City and were German trained silversmiths. He also lists a George Cook and H.L. Andrews as silversmiths from Booneville. Two more German silversmiths lived in Jefferson City, however they were in the State Penitentiary and it is not believed that the State of Missouri had inmates working as silversmiths. There were a few others, however most appear simply to have brought their goods from others and sold them in their stores. Only one silver item in pictured in Van Ravenswaay's book and that is a silver goblet that was made in Germany. IP: Logged |
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Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 |
posted 08-25-2005 09:57 AM
About the incoming Germans to St. Louis...I would imagine that Jaccard used German smiths to make their silver...as was true in Newark's silver and jewelry factories, companies with English surnames usually had majority German craftsmen working therein. I have noted with pleasure that, on a census map of 1911, done in Newark, the neighborhood around Tiffany's silver factory was entirely German. I'm sure this was true in all the cities with large German populations, even if the named silversmiths were not German, by 1860 their workers were. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 08-26-2005 11:45 AM
Norman Mack recounts an interesting story in his book on Missouri silver. Louis Jaccard and Ludwig Meyer (born in Hanover, Germany) both came to the U.S. on the same boat. They struck up a friendship on board and discovered that both were intending to settle in Missouri. They drew straws to determine who would settle in St. Louis and who would settle in St. Charles. Jaccard drew the longer straw and choose St. Louis. Both of course were successful. Germans were encouraged to emigrate to the U.S. as a result of Gottfried Duden's book. This book was published in 1829 and urged emigration to the U.S. and extolled the Missouri River area. Duden also noted that there was a need for silversmiths in the area, as most of the craftsmen that can do this work were watchmakers and they really did not like to do work of a silversmith. He also noted that a silversmith could keep a general store and sell a dozen different lines of goods. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 06-10-2020 05:56 PM
    Above are pictures of a Freeman A. Durgin cake saw that I posted some time ago together with what I would call a butter or cheese knife. The seller thought it is an individual fish knife, but I am going to call it a master butter knife. It interested me because it is the same pattern as the cake saw and most likely is a Freeman Durgin design. It is also interesting as it is marked Sterling indicating that Mr. Durgin stayed in business long enough to switch over to that standard. Both came with the cases that they were originally sold with and both have blades that are at a right angle to the handles. [This message has been edited by ahwt (edited 06-10-2020).] IP: Logged |
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June Martin Forum Master Posts: 1326 |
posted 06-14-2020 12:21 PM
Thanks ahwt for bringing this thread back to life. I had missed it the first time. Fascinating. IP: Logged |
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