BIOGRAPHY:
JOSEPH H. DEGGINGER. Few names stood for more of the substantial qualities of success in Gentry County than that of the late Joseph H. Degginger, who for many years was rated as the second man of wealth in the county. When it is recalled that he started out as a peddler in Gentry County, his brothers having fitted him out with a small stock of goods, the success of his career becomes really remarkable, and still more so from the fact that he was foreign born and knew very few words of the English language when he began selling goods from his pack to the people of Gentry County.
Joseph H. Degginger came to the United States and to Missouri an inexperienced, penniless boy, without a word of English to aid him. For six months he walked over Gentry County with a peddler's pack on his back filled with household necessities, dry goods and notions, and his customers were the farmers of the county. Such help and encouragement as he received came from his brother Augustus [sic], then a merchant at Albany. He had begun in this line about three years before the Civil war, and his career as a traveling merchant was interrupted for a brief time during that war when he himself served as a militiaman with the Union army. He was one of several brothers who gave loyal and patriotic service to the American nation during that struggle.
With the small capital acquired by peddling, he engaged for a few years in merchandising at Allendale, became a partner of Ed Hart at Gentryville, and the firm then moved to Albany and sold goods under the name of Degginger & Hart on the corner of the square now occupied by the Gentry County Bank. John A. Hundley, now one of the wealthy men of Albany, was for a time a clerk in the firm, and became a partner with young Degginger after the death of Mr. Hart. Soon afterward George S. Hundley was taken into the firm. In the later '60s these business men conducted an enterprise of considerable importance to the farmers in this vicinity as pork packers, and hauled their meat overland to St. Joseph, bringing back merchandise for their store. It was in the packing business rather than in merchandising that the partners laid the substantial basis for their subsequent fortunes.
The late J. H. Degginger exhibited his remarkable foresight in anticipating the inevitable value of Gentry County land, and invested all the surplus from his current business in land until he was the owner of almost four thousand acres of rich soil in this county. He used the land to feed cattle, was one of the best judges of live stock in Northwest Missouri, and it is said that he seldom failed to gain a profit when he "turned his stock off." With the increasing cares of his farm and live stock he abandoned merchandising, and besides farming and cattle raising also loaned money on farm mortgages. In the accumulation of his wealth, it is said that no one could reasonably envy or begrudge him his prosperity, since he maintained an absolute fairness in his dealings, and again and again allowed the quality of human sympathy to invade his business transactions.
Joseph H. Degginger, whose death occurred January 31, 1912, was one of Gentry County's pioneers, having come to the county in 1858. He was born at Felheim, Bavaria, October 30, 1839, a son of Nathan and Bertha (Rosenstock) Degginger. His father was a winemaker and vineyardist in Bavaria and was of German stock. Those of his children to reach maturity were: Augusta [sic], at one time a merchant of Albany, but who died as a merchant at Cincinnati, Ohio; Joseph; Simon, who gave up his life as a sacrifice to the cause of the Union during the Civil war; Jacob, also a Union soldier, and engaged throughout his active career in merchandising and died in Reno County, Kansas; Louis, a wealthy citizen of Kansas City; and Mrs. Bertha Isaacs, of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Joseph H. Degginger acquired a good education before leaving his native land, and was sixteen years old when he emigrated, and from that time until his death more than fifty years later, was a resident in and about Gentry county. At the time of his death he was the owner of one of the landed estates in Gentry County, and his purchases had been chiefly of improved or pasture land. As a large stock shipper, he became a familiar figure in the Chicago stock yards, where he appeared two or three times every year. In politics he was a democrat, but with no aspirations for public service, although he occasionally went to a convention as a delegate. For about fifty years he was a Master Mason, and was a strong supporter of Christian churches and a man of intrinsic benevolence and practical charity.
Mr. Degginger married June 14, 1883, in Gentry County, Miss Jennie Snyder, daughter of William A. and Barbara (Blaylock) Snyder. Her father, who was born in Greene County, Tennessee, came to Missouri before the war, was a blacksmith and carpenter and later a farmer, and died August 30, 1885, at the age of sixty-one. His wife, who was born in Shelby County, Ohio, died in November, 1892. The Snyder children were: William; Elizabeth, who married Warren Murphy, of St. Joseph; Philip, deceased; Margaret, deceased, and who married Lue Forbis; Mrs. Degginger; Napoleon B., of Gentry; John, of Wichita, Kansas; David K., who died in Nebraska City, leaving three daughters; Rachel, who married Henry Beachler, of Stanberry, Missouri; and Amanda, who married Emery Romaek, of Pawnee, Oklahoma.
Mrs. Degginger survives her late husband, is a member of the Presbyterian Church. She has one son, J. H., born April 3, 1895. This young man spent a year in the University of Missouri, is a graduate of the Albany High School, and is now pursuing a course of agriculture in the State University School and plans a career as a scientific farmer.
SOURCE: pp1249-1251 of "A History of Northwest Missouri, Volume 2" edited by Walter Williams; published 1915 by the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago-New York.
NOTE: His birthplace shown as Felheim in biography but I believe this is the tiny village of Feldheim, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Brandenburg, Germany, Europe. Also his biography states he married June 14, 1883 but obituary says June 4, 1883.
JOSEPH H. DEGGINGER. Few names stood for more of the substantial qualities of success in Gentry County than that of the late Joseph H. Degginger, who for many years was rated as the second man of wealth in the county. When it is recalled that he started out as a peddler in Gentry County, his brothers having fitted him out with a small stock of goods, the success of his career becomes really remarkable, and still more so from the fact that he was foreign born and knew very few words of the English language when he began selling goods from his pack to the people of Gentry County.
Joseph H. Degginger came to the United States and to Missouri an inexperienced, penniless boy, without a word of English to aid him. For six months he walked over Gentry County with a peddler's pack on his back filled with household necessities, dry goods and notions, and his customers were the farmers of the county. Such help and encouragement as he received came from his brother Augustus [sic], then a merchant at Albany. He had begun in this line about three years before the Civil war, and his career as a traveling merchant was interrupted for a brief time during that war when he himself served as a militiaman with the Union army. He was one of several brothers who gave loyal and patriotic service to the American nation during that struggle.
With the small capital acquired by peddling, he engaged for a few years in merchandising at Allendale, became a partner of Ed Hart at Gentryville, and the firm then moved to Albany and sold goods under the name of Degginger & Hart on the corner of the square now occupied by the Gentry County Bank. John A. Hundley, now one of the wealthy men of Albany, was for a time a clerk in the firm, and became a partner with young Degginger after the death of Mr. Hart. Soon afterward George S. Hundley was taken into the firm. In the later '60s these business men conducted an enterprise of considerable importance to the farmers in this vicinity as pork packers, and hauled their meat overland to St. Joseph, bringing back merchandise for their store. It was in the packing business rather than in merchandising that the partners laid the substantial basis for their subsequent fortunes.
The late J. H. Degginger exhibited his remarkable foresight in anticipating the inevitable value of Gentry County land, and invested all the surplus from his current business in land until he was the owner of almost four thousand acres of rich soil in this county. He used the land to feed cattle, was one of the best judges of live stock in Northwest Missouri, and it is said that he seldom failed to gain a profit when he "turned his stock off." With the increasing cares of his farm and live stock he abandoned merchandising, and besides farming and cattle raising also loaned money on farm mortgages. In the accumulation of his wealth, it is said that no one could reasonably envy or begrudge him his prosperity, since he maintained an absolute fairness in his dealings, and again and again allowed the quality of human sympathy to invade his business transactions.
Joseph H. Degginger, whose death occurred January 31, 1912, was one of Gentry County's pioneers, having come to the county in 1858. He was born at Felheim, Bavaria, October 30, 1839, a son of Nathan and Bertha (Rosenstock) Degginger. His father was a winemaker and vineyardist in Bavaria and was of German stock. Those of his children to reach maturity were: Augusta [sic], at one time a merchant of Albany, but who died as a merchant at Cincinnati, Ohio; Joseph; Simon, who gave up his life as a sacrifice to the cause of the Union during the Civil war; Jacob, also a Union soldier, and engaged throughout his active career in merchandising and died in Reno County, Kansas; Louis, a wealthy citizen of Kansas City; and Mrs. Bertha Isaacs, of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Joseph H. Degginger acquired a good education before leaving his native land, and was sixteen years old when he emigrated, and from that time until his death more than fifty years later, was a resident in and about Gentry county. At the time of his death he was the owner of one of the landed estates in Gentry County, and his purchases had been chiefly of improved or pasture land. As a large stock shipper, he became a familiar figure in the Chicago stock yards, where he appeared two or three times every year. In politics he was a democrat, but with no aspirations for public service, although he occasionally went to a convention as a delegate. For about fifty years he was a Master Mason, and was a strong supporter of Christian churches and a man of intrinsic benevolence and practical charity.
Mr. Degginger married June 14, 1883, in Gentry County, Miss Jennie Snyder, daughter of William A. and Barbara (Blaylock) Snyder. Her father, who was born in Greene County, Tennessee, came to Missouri before the war, was a blacksmith and carpenter and later a farmer, and died August 30, 1885, at the age of sixty-one. His wife, who was born in Shelby County, Ohio, died in November, 1892. The Snyder children were: William; Elizabeth, who married Warren Murphy, of St. Joseph; Philip, deceased; Margaret, deceased, and who married Lue Forbis; Mrs. Degginger; Napoleon B., of Gentry; John, of Wichita, Kansas; David K., who died in Nebraska City, leaving three daughters; Rachel, who married Henry Beachler, of Stanberry, Missouri; and Amanda, who married Emery Romaek, of Pawnee, Oklahoma.
Mrs. Degginger survives her late husband, is a member of the Presbyterian Church. She has one son, J. H., born April 3, 1895. This young man spent a year in the University of Missouri, is a graduate of the Albany High School, and is now pursuing a course of agriculture in the State University School and plans a career as a scientific farmer.
SOURCE: pp1249-1251 of "A History of Northwest Missouri, Volume 2" edited by Walter Williams; published 1915 by the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago-New York.
NOTE: His birthplace shown as Felheim in biography but I believe this is the tiny village of Feldheim, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Brandenburg, Germany, Europe. Also his biography states he married June 14, 1883 but obituary says June 4, 1883.
BIOGRAPHY:
JOSEPH H. DEGGINGER. Few names stood for more of the substantial qualities of success in Gentry County than that of the late Joseph H. Degginger, who for many years was rated as the second man of wealth in the county. When it is recalled that he started out as a peddler in Gentry County, his brothers having fitted him out with a small stock of goods, the success of his career becomes really remarkable, and still more so from the fact that he was foreign born and knew very few words of the English language when he began selling goods from his pack to the people of Gentry County.
Joseph H. Degginger came to the United States and to Missouri an inexperienced, penniless boy, without a word of English to aid him. For six months he walked over Gentry County with a peddler's pack on his back filled with household necessities, dry goods and notions, and his customers were the farmers of the county. Such help and encouragement as he received came from his brother Augustus [sic], then a merchant at Albany. He had begun in this line about three years before the Civil war, and his career as a traveling merchant was interrupted for a brief time during that war when he himself served as a militiaman with the Union army. He was one of several brothers who gave loyal and patriotic service to the American nation during that struggle.
With the small capital acquired by peddling, he engaged for a few years in merchandising at Allendale, became a partner of Ed Hart at Gentryville, and the firm then moved to Albany and sold goods under the name of Degginger & Hart on the corner of the square now occupied by the Gentry County Bank. John A. Hundley, now one of the wealthy men of Albany, was for a time a clerk in the firm, and became a partner with young Degginger after the death of Mr. Hart. Soon afterward George S. Hundley was taken into the firm. In the later '60s these business men conducted an enterprise of considerable importance to the farmers in this vicinity as pork packers, and hauled their meat overland to St. Joseph, bringing back merchandise for their store. It was in the packing business rather than in merchandising that the partners laid the substantial basis for their subsequent fortunes.
The late J. H. Degginger exhibited his remarkable foresight in anticipating the inevitable value of Gentry County land, and invested all the surplus from his current business in land until he was the owner of almost four thousand acres of rich soil in this county. He used the land to feed cattle, was one of the best judges of live stock in Northwest Missouri, and it is said that he seldom failed to gain a profit when he "turned his stock off." With the increasing cares of his farm and live stock he abandoned merchandising, and besides farming and cattle raising also loaned money on farm mortgages. In the accumulation of his wealth, it is said that no one could reasonably envy or begrudge him his prosperity, since he maintained an absolute fairness in his dealings, and again and again allowed the quality of human sympathy to invade his business transactions.
Joseph H. Degginger, whose death occurred January 31, 1912, was one of Gentry County's pioneers, having come to the county in 1858. He was born at Felheim, Bavaria, October 30, 1839, a son of Nathan and Bertha (Rosenstock) Degginger. His father was a winemaker and vineyardist in Bavaria and was of German stock. Those of his children to reach maturity were: Augusta [sic], at one time a merchant of Albany, but who died as a merchant at Cincinnati, Ohio; Joseph; Simon, who gave up his life as a sacrifice to the cause of the Union during the Civil war; Jacob, also a Union soldier, and engaged throughout his active career in merchandising and died in Reno County, Kansas; Louis, a wealthy citizen of Kansas City; and Mrs. Bertha Isaacs, of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Joseph H. Degginger acquired a good education before leaving his native land, and was sixteen years old when he emigrated, and from that time until his death more than fifty years later, was a resident in and about Gentry county. At the time of his death he was the owner of one of the landed estates in Gentry County, and his purchases had been chiefly of improved or pasture land. As a large stock shipper, he became a familiar figure in the Chicago stock yards, where he appeared two or three times every year. In politics he was a democrat, but with no aspirations for public service, although he occasionally went to a convention as a delegate. For about fifty years he was a Master Mason, and was a strong supporter of Christian churches and a man of intrinsic benevolence and practical charity.
Mr. Degginger married June 14, 1883, in Gentry County, Miss Jennie Snyder, daughter of William A. and Barbara (Blaylock) Snyder. Her father, who was born in Greene County, Tennessee, came to Missouri before the war, was a blacksmith and carpenter and later a farmer, and died August 30, 1885, at the age of sixty-one. His wife, who was born in Shelby County, Ohio, died in November, 1892. The Snyder children were: William; Elizabeth, who married Warren Murphy, of St. Joseph; Philip, deceased; Margaret, deceased, and who married Lue Forbis; Mrs. Degginger; Napoleon B., of Gentry; John, of Wichita, Kansas; David K., who died in Nebraska City, leaving three daughters; Rachel, who married Henry Beachler, of Stanberry, Missouri; and Amanda, who married Emery Romaek, of Pawnee, Oklahoma.
Mrs. Degginger survives her late husband, is a member of the Presbyterian Church. She has one son, J. H., born April 3, 1895. This young man spent a year in the University of Missouri, is a graduate of the Albany High School, and is now pursuing a course of agriculture in the State University School and plans a career as a scientific farmer.
SOURCE: pp1249-1251 of "A History of Northwest Missouri, Volume 2" edited by Walter Williams; published 1915 by the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago-New York.
NOTE: His birthplace shown as Felheim in biography but I believe this is the tiny village of Feldheim, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Brandenburg, Germany, Europe. Also his biography states he married June 14, 1883 but obituary says June 4, 1883.
JOSEPH H. DEGGINGER. Few names stood for more of the substantial qualities of success in Gentry County than that of the late Joseph H. Degginger, who for many years was rated as the second man of wealth in the county. When it is recalled that he started out as a peddler in Gentry County, his brothers having fitted him out with a small stock of goods, the success of his career becomes really remarkable, and still more so from the fact that he was foreign born and knew very few words of the English language when he began selling goods from his pack to the people of Gentry County.
Joseph H. Degginger came to the United States and to Missouri an inexperienced, penniless boy, without a word of English to aid him. For six months he walked over Gentry County with a peddler's pack on his back filled with household necessities, dry goods and notions, and his customers were the farmers of the county. Such help and encouragement as he received came from his brother Augustus [sic], then a merchant at Albany. He had begun in this line about three years before the Civil war, and his career as a traveling merchant was interrupted for a brief time during that war when he himself served as a militiaman with the Union army. He was one of several brothers who gave loyal and patriotic service to the American nation during that struggle.
With the small capital acquired by peddling, he engaged for a few years in merchandising at Allendale, became a partner of Ed Hart at Gentryville, and the firm then moved to Albany and sold goods under the name of Degginger & Hart on the corner of the square now occupied by the Gentry County Bank. John A. Hundley, now one of the wealthy men of Albany, was for a time a clerk in the firm, and became a partner with young Degginger after the death of Mr. Hart. Soon afterward George S. Hundley was taken into the firm. In the later '60s these business men conducted an enterprise of considerable importance to the farmers in this vicinity as pork packers, and hauled their meat overland to St. Joseph, bringing back merchandise for their store. It was in the packing business rather than in merchandising that the partners laid the substantial basis for their subsequent fortunes.
The late J. H. Degginger exhibited his remarkable foresight in anticipating the inevitable value of Gentry County land, and invested all the surplus from his current business in land until he was the owner of almost four thousand acres of rich soil in this county. He used the land to feed cattle, was one of the best judges of live stock in Northwest Missouri, and it is said that he seldom failed to gain a profit when he "turned his stock off." With the increasing cares of his farm and live stock he abandoned merchandising, and besides farming and cattle raising also loaned money on farm mortgages. In the accumulation of his wealth, it is said that no one could reasonably envy or begrudge him his prosperity, since he maintained an absolute fairness in his dealings, and again and again allowed the quality of human sympathy to invade his business transactions.
Joseph H. Degginger, whose death occurred January 31, 1912, was one of Gentry County's pioneers, having come to the county in 1858. He was born at Felheim, Bavaria, October 30, 1839, a son of Nathan and Bertha (Rosenstock) Degginger. His father was a winemaker and vineyardist in Bavaria and was of German stock. Those of his children to reach maturity were: Augusta [sic], at one time a merchant of Albany, but who died as a merchant at Cincinnati, Ohio; Joseph; Simon, who gave up his life as a sacrifice to the cause of the Union during the Civil war; Jacob, also a Union soldier, and engaged throughout his active career in merchandising and died in Reno County, Kansas; Louis, a wealthy citizen of Kansas City; and Mrs. Bertha Isaacs, of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Joseph H. Degginger acquired a good education before leaving his native land, and was sixteen years old when he emigrated, and from that time until his death more than fifty years later, was a resident in and about Gentry county. At the time of his death he was the owner of one of the landed estates in Gentry County, and his purchases had been chiefly of improved or pasture land. As a large stock shipper, he became a familiar figure in the Chicago stock yards, where he appeared two or three times every year. In politics he was a democrat, but with no aspirations for public service, although he occasionally went to a convention as a delegate. For about fifty years he was a Master Mason, and was a strong supporter of Christian churches and a man of intrinsic benevolence and practical charity.
Mr. Degginger married June 14, 1883, in Gentry County, Miss Jennie Snyder, daughter of William A. and Barbara (Blaylock) Snyder. Her father, who was born in Greene County, Tennessee, came to Missouri before the war, was a blacksmith and carpenter and later a farmer, and died August 30, 1885, at the age of sixty-one. His wife, who was born in Shelby County, Ohio, died in November, 1892. The Snyder children were: William; Elizabeth, who married Warren Murphy, of St. Joseph; Philip, deceased; Margaret, deceased, and who married Lue Forbis; Mrs. Degginger; Napoleon B., of Gentry; John, of Wichita, Kansas; David K., who died in Nebraska City, leaving three daughters; Rachel, who married Henry Beachler, of Stanberry, Missouri; and Amanda, who married Emery Romaek, of Pawnee, Oklahoma.
Mrs. Degginger survives her late husband, is a member of the Presbyterian Church. She has one son, J. H., born April 3, 1895. This young man spent a year in the University of Missouri, is a graduate of the Albany High School, and is now pursuing a course of agriculture in the State University School and plans a career as a scientific farmer.
SOURCE: pp1249-1251 of "A History of Northwest Missouri, Volume 2" edited by Walter Williams; published 1915 by the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago-New York.
NOTE: His birthplace shown as Felheim in biography but I believe this is the tiny village of Feldheim, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Brandenburg, Germany, Europe. Also his biography states he married June 14, 1883 but obituary says June 4, 1883.
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