CHAPTER XXVII (Part 1)
BIOGRAPHICAL
William F. Crome - (Personal achievement of moment and consequence to the community in which the individual under review has succeeded in his life work is deserving of more than casual mention. The late William F. Crome, founder of the William F. Crome and Company, wholesale grocery company, of Clinton, Missouri, was a pioneer in his line of endeavor, and succeeded in establishing a wholesale business in Clinton when the undertaking was looked upon as of doubtful success by others of the business world. He established one of the first wholesale grocery concerns in western Missouri and did more than any other Clinton citizen in placing Clinton in the front rank of Missouri commercial towns.
For a quarter of a century he contributed to the commercial development of Clinton and western Missouri. As far back as 1887, at a time when it was generally considered impracticable, if not impossible, to establish a wholesale grocery house in Clinton, Mr. Crome came here and placed in operation a branch house of the Fink and Nasse Wholesale Grocery Company of St. Louis. He began the business here under the name of William F. Crome and Company and his sons are at this day proprietors of the business which he founded and are operating successfully under the original title of the concern. Nearly a third of a century of square dealing has made the name of William F. Crome and Company the leading one in the wholesale grocery world of this section of Missouri.
William F. Crome was born in Germany in 1853. When sixteen years of age he immigrated to America, without money or even influential friends to assist him in the upward climb to prosperous well being which became his after years of patient endeavor. He came to this country imbued with the idea of making his fortune and was able and willing to perform any honest labor of which he was capable. He first located in Kentucky and from there went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he obtained employment in an eating place - a position which was no sinecure in those early days and requiring the hardest kind of labor. From Nashville he went to Decatur, an inland Missouri town, where he was employed as general assistant in a flouring mill and a general store. It was here that he secured his first experience in handling retail merchandise and gained an experience in business which was valuable to him in later years. His next move was to Bunker Hill, Kansas, where he operated a general store. Not long afterward he went to St. Louis and was married, shortly afterward returning to Bunker Hill with the intention of remaining there in business for himself. He soon sold out his interests in Kansas and, going to St. Louis, became connected with the firm of Fink and Nasse. Attaining a partnership in this concern, he remained in St. Louis until 1887, when he came to Clinton and established the wholesale grocery business which still bears his name and is operated by his sons. This was the first wholesale grocery business established in Henry County and is the leading one, covering a broad scope of territory in western Missouri.
The trade of this establishment covers a radius of about fifty miles of prosperous territory around Clinton, and everything usually found in a first-class, well-equipped wholesale grocery house can be had at short notice from the William F. Crome and Company. The reputation and high standing of this institution has been builded upon the twin precepts of success - quality and service.
William F. Crome departed this life January 12, 1910 at his home in Clinton. He was in active management of his immense business until his health began to fail him. During his long years of residence in Clinton he took an active part in the up-building of the city and its development, contributing probably more than any other citizen of his day to the development of this city and through his business, giving the city a wide advertisement as a trade center. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and lived a clean and upright life, being ever ready to contribute liberally to worthy religious and charitable enterprises.
For a number of years he was a member of the Clinton school board and took an active and influential interest in educational matters until compelled to resign from the board on account of failing health.
Mr. Crome was married in 1882 to Miss Julia Fink, of St. Louis. Mrs. Julia (Fink) Crome is the daughter of Conrad Fink, a man who had a remarkable business career and during his time was one of the captains of industry of St. Louis. Mr. Fink began his career as a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River and became the owner of a fleet of boats plying that waterway in the days when the Mississippi was the great artery of commerce through the western and central sections of the country. He commanded the first boat to reach Memphis, flying the Union flag during the Civil War. After the war he engaged in the milling business in St. Louis and amassed a fortune. Later, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business there and amassed another fortune.
Mr. Fink died at Ashville, North Carolina, while sojourning there for his health.
To William F. and Julia (Fink) Crome were born five children: Carl A., William F., Robert, Conrad E., and Alice. William F., Conrad E., and Carl A., are now the owners and active managers of the business founded by their father, and which is carried on under the name of William F. Crome and Company. All are well educated and received a thorough training in the business under their capable and successful father and are enterprising and worthy citizens of the city of their birth and rearing.
The sons of William F. Crome were all educated in the Culver Military Academy of Indiana, and are aflSliated fraternally with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and are Knights Templars and members of the Mystic Shrine. The Crome Brothers represent a high type of progressive business men and good citizenship, being ever ready and liberal in their contributions and support of worthy local enterprises. Carl A. Crome married Miss Helen Mitchell of Clinton, and has one child, Helen Elizabeth. Miss Alice Crome resides with her mother in Clinton. William F. Crome was married in July, 1918, to Miss Cory McConnell of Clinton.
Conrad F. Crome was born August 5, 1892, is an enlisted officer in the National Army of the United States, was graduated from the Second Officers' Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, August 28, 1917, and is now serving as captain with the 305th Supply Train, with the American Field Army at the western front in France.
Charles Houston Whitaker, owner and editor of the Clinton Daily and Weekly Democrat, was born in Savannah, Missouri, February 22, 1862, his parents being Charles Houston and Mary Elizabeth (Selecman) Whitaker. He pursued his education in the schools of Macomb, Illinois, where he completed the high school course. His boyhood and youth were passed in Macomb and his initial training in newspaper work came to him in the office of his father, who was then owner and publisher of the Macomb Eagle. Mr. Whitaker has been a resident of Clinton since 1894. He has made the Democrat both a mirror and molder of public opinion, utilizing the most progressive methods of modern journalism in the publication of his paper, which in both the daily and weekly editions now has a wide circulation. The name indicates the political complexion of the paper and its editor, who has always been a stalwart advocate of Democratic principles, content, however, to support the party as a private citizen rather than seek the rewards of office in recognition of party fealty.
On the seventh of October, 1891, in Galesburg, Illinois, Mr. Whitaker was united in marriage to Miss Ella May Martin, a daughter of T. B. Martin, of Galesburg. They now have three children: Helen Elizabeth, Charles Houston and Marian Frances. Mr. Whitaker belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, being exalted ruler of Clinton Lodge, No. 1034, in the years 1913-14. In private life as well as through his journalistic connections he stands for progressiveness in citizenship and for civic betterment and has made the Democrat a power for good along those lines.
Clay Adair, the well known postmaster of Clinton, Missouri, is a descendant of pioneer Missouri families on both the maternal and paternal sides. Mr. Adair was born in Fayette County, Texas, August 24, 1869, a son of Joseph and Margaret (Payne) Adair, both natives of Missouri, born at Independence. Joseph Adair was the first male white child born in Independence. He grew to manhood in Jackson County, and when gold was discovered in California in 1849 he made the trip via the overland route with Upton Hayes. After remaining on the coast for two years he returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1851. In 1855 he went to Texas, where he was residing when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted in the Confederate army and after serving two years was discharged. His service was under General Myers. He died in 1904 and his wife died March 13, 1901, and their remains are interred in the Englewood Cemetery in Clinton. Margaret (Payne) Adair was a daughter of A. J. Payne, a pioneer of Independence, Missouri. He died in that locality and later his family started for California and the mother died on the way.
To Joseph and Margaret (Payne) Adair were born the following children, Thomas, deceased; John, deceased; Mrs. Mary Wellborn, Chickasha, Oklahoma; A. J. Adair, deceased; Joseph D., deceased; Isaac, resides in Clinton, Missouri; Clay, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Maggie Chapman, deceased; Mrs. Frank Taylor, El Keno, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Ray Wade, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Clay Adair was reared in Texas and educated in the district schools and Ad Ran College at Thorpe Springs, Texas. In early life he was engaged in the cattle business in western Texas, where he remained until 1888.
The family then returned to Henry County, Missouri, and settled on a farm near Calhoun. Here Mr. Adair was engaged in general farming and stock raising until 1896, when he came to Clinton and engaged in the livery business. Two years later he was appointed deputy recorder of deeds for the county and at the death of William Duncan, Mr. Adair was appointed to serve the unexpired term by Governor Dockerty. In 1904 Mr. Adair was elected county treasurer of Henry County, and served one term of two years. He then accepted a position to serve as farm loan examiner for the Prudential Insurance Company, and on March 19, 1914, he was appointed postmaster of Clinton, Missouri, by President Wilson, and reappointed to that office at the expiration of his first term in 1918.
November 22, 1892, Mr. Adair was united in marriage with Miss Ollie M. Gutridge of Calhoun, Missouri. She is a daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (Pigg) Gutridge, one of the very early pioneer families of Henry County. A more complete history of the Gutridge family is given elsewhere in this volume. To Mr. and Mrs. Adair have been born three children: Eugene D., now serving as deputy circuit clerk of Henry County; Louise N., married T. L. Francisco, Clinton, Missouri, and Mary Margaret, who resides at home with her parents.
Mr. Adair is one of Henry County's foremost citizens and a capable and efficient public official. He has ever been true to any public trust delegated to him. He is public spirited and takes a keen interest in all matters pertaining to the betterment and up-building of the county and its institutions.
