Henry of Phul

Henry of Phul (1784–1874)

Henry von Phul (born August 14, 1784 in Philadelphia , † September 8, 1874 in St. Louis ) was an American officer , pioneer and businessman who was mainly involved in the history of St. Louis.

origin

Henry von Phul belongs to the Württemberg line of the old Brandenburg noble family von Pfuel (also Pfuhl or Phull).

In Bavaria, the Mollberg manor, south of Höchstädt an der Donau , was owned by the family until Johann Willhelm von Phull (1739–1793) sold it and in 1764 emigrated to Lancaster , in the province of Pennsylvania . Johann Wilhelm (now William ) served as an officer under George Washington , and acquired the Bel Air Plantation on the Mississippi , near Baton Rouge , Louisiana . In 1775 he married Catherine Graff († 1792 or 1810).

Life

Henry was born in 1784, the fifth of eight children. His parents and his brothers died as a result of 1792 in Philadelphia angry yellow fever . Only Henry and two of his sisters survived the epidemic.

In 1811 Phul came to St. Louis from Philadelphia, which at the time had a population of about 1,400. Henry began trading in fur and served as a  United States Mounted Ranger  and aide-de-camp of Nathan Boone (son of Daniel Boone ), commander of the 1st United States Regiment of Dragoons, in the fight against attacks by the Indians along the way of the Missouri were very common.

The steamship Henry Von Phul (1860)

Henry took a keelboat to New Orleans , then Madeira , returned to St. Louis and set up a general store. In 1817 Henry saw the General Zebulon Pike as the first steamship to dock in St. Louis. After steamships reached St. Louis, he owned some of the largest ships and eventually built what was one of the largest in the west. His ships were the first to travel between St. Louis and New Orleans.

In 1821 Phul became director of the Bank of Missouri , from 1829 to 1830 director of the Branch Bank of the United States in St. Louis. In 1831 Phul became director of the Missouri Insurance Company , in 1832 founder of the Union Insurance Company . Von Phul was one of the founders of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce in 1836 , became its Vice President in the same year and its President in 1840. 1855 director of the Iron Mountain Railroad .

Von Phul went to great lengths to ensure the city's welfare. In 1817 he collected money and bought the town's first fire engine and had a fire station built. Phul became a city administrator in 1819 and became the city's first auditor in 1823 . In 1829 he became a city ​​councilor . He served on the board of Kemper College and from 1838 to 1840 on the St. Louis School Board.

family

Tomb of Henry and Rosalie of Phul, St. Louis, USA

Henry von Phul was the brother of the American artist Anna Maria von Phul (1786–1823).

In 1816 he married Rosalie Saugrain (1797–1787), daughter of the chemist and doctor  Antoine Saugrain  (1763–1820). The following children were born from the marriage:

• Frank (Francis) von Phul (1835–1922), was captain of the Confederate Army of the Confederate States of America . He served on the staff of Generals Lewis Henry Little , Daniel Marsh Frost , John Bullock Clark and John S. Marmaduke during the Civil War, and as aide-de-camp for General Braxton Bragg . Frank was the father of Sylvester Louis “Tony” von Phul (1878–1911), an American balloonist pioneer with a No. 27 flying license; Murdered in 1911 by Frank Henwood in the Marble Bar of the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. The criminal case culminated in a series of public trials that caused a sensation across the country.

• Benjamin (1840–1909), was captain of the Missouri Light Artillery .

William von Phul (1871-1949), President and General Manager of the Market Street Railway (San Francisco) (1918-1922), previously Vice President and General Manager of the United Railroads of San Francisco , and Henry von Phul (* 1876), Sheriff of Teller County , Colorado , were Henry of Phul's grandsons.

Honors

• The steamship  Henry von Phul  was named after him.
• Von Phul Street was named after him in St. Louis .

literature

• Conard, Howard L.,  Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri: A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference , New York, Haldeman, Conard, and Company, 1901, vol. 6, p. 304.
• Corbett, Katharine T.,  In Her Place: A Guide to St. Louis Women's History , St. Louis, Missouri Historical Society Press, 1999, p. 33.
• Stevens, Walter B.,  St. Louis, The Fourth City, 1764-1909 , St. Louis, The SJ Clarke Publishing Co., 1909, p. 586.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Herman Boehm de Bachellé Seebold: Old Louisiana Plantation Homes And Family Trees . Pelican Publishing, 1971, ISBN 978-1-4556-0989-5 , pp. 80-.
2. ↑ Char Ollinger: Henry von Phul 1784-1874 . February 3, 2009.