Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/680

 604 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI merchant and lumber manufacturer at An- napolis, Iron county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have two children, Emily T. and Claire, both at home. Joseph A. Mintbup. No member of the business community has a greater responsi- bility than the banker, and any comiiuiuity or city is much to be congratulated which has at the head of its finances men of thor- ough training, true worth and moral depend- ability. No banker of southeastern Missouri is more closely typical of what is reciuired in the financial manager and leader to inspire and retain business and commercial confi- dence than Joseph A. Mintrup, cashier of the Citizens' Bank of Union, Missouri. From every possible viewpoint Mr. Mintrup is a man of the finest citizenship, public spirited, altruistic, ever ready to give his support to all measures likely to result in general bene- fit. He is one of the standard bearers of the local Democratic party and as a public official has a record of the most meritorious character. He was for a number of years postmaster of Washington and for twelve successive yeare held the ofSce of county clerk of Franklin county with credit to him- self and honor to his constituents. The length of time he held this important posi- tion is sufficient in itself to show how well he performed its duties, and doubtless much further public usefulness lies before him, for he is a man in the prime of life. By his private life as well as his public services he has endeared himself to the people of Frank- lin county, for he g:i'ew up in the county from the age of five years and his whole career is an open book. Jlr. Mintrup was born in St. Louis county, ilissoui-i, April 28, 1862. He is of German stock, his father, Francis Mintrup, having been a native of the German state of Han- over, now a part of the province of Prussia, where his birth occurred in 1822. Like the majority of his countrymen he was of the stuff of which the best citizenship is made, and his stalwart, fine Teutonic characteristics have come to Ins son as a heritage. He and a bi'other, Joseph, came to the decision to make a hazard of new fortunes in the land across the Atlantic in their youth ancl saying farewell for all time to their parents and brothers and sisters they sailed, two brave and adventurous spirits, for America, some years previous to the outbreak of the Civil war. In course of time they found their way to IMissouri and located in Washington, where they became useful citizens, married and reared families and both now sleep be- neath the sod of that section. Francis Min- trup, ideal patriot and lover of liberty, was in sympathy with the Union and when the long-lowering war cloud broke in all its fury in the early "60s of the nineteenth century, he enlisted in a ilissouri regiment of the Federal army, only served a very short time when discharged on account of disability. In 1867 he established himself in business at Washington with his brother, and together they operated a planing-mill until the de- mise of PYancis Mintrup in 1869. The young woman whom he chose as his wife and the bearer of his name was Miss Maiy Narup, an admirable lady who has survived her hus- band for these many years, making her resi- dence at the family home. The children are as follows : Miss Annie, of Washington, Mis- souri; Joseph A., of this notice; Kate, wife of Edward Jasper, of Washington ; and Henry and Augiisf, of Chicago, Illinois. In the Washington public schools and in the well-known Catholic institution at St. Mary's, Kansas, Joseph A. Minfi'up received his education. When a youth he learned the printer's trade on the Franklin County Ob- server at Washington, and proving faithful and efficient in little things, he in course of time accjuired a partnership in the paper and eventually became the editor. He evinced no inconsiderable gifts as an exponent of the Fourth Estate, but sold the plant and en- tered mercantile life, joining the J. L. Hake Shoe Company at Washington and becom- ing secretary of the same. He remained thus associated until the lieginning of Presi- dent Cleveland's second administration, when he received the appointment of assistant post- master of Washington, and a year later was appointed chief of the office. He -filled the position until June, 1898, when he was re- placed by a Republican and not long after- ward engaged in the real estate and insur- ance business. At the fall election in 1898 Mr. Mintrup was chosen county clerk on the Democratic ticket, overcoming a Republican majority of several hundred and winning the office with one hundred and seventy-five votes to spare. His first service of four years so justified the confidence of the people that he was reelected for another term, which was succeeded in