tion he performed efficient labor in the construction and maintenance of the various important highways throughout the county, serving until the adoption of the Scheme and. Charter, in 1876, when the office which he occupied was abrogated. On retiring from the road superintendency he turned again to his personal concerns, including the management of his magnificent farm of 300 acres, and his mercantile business at Allenton, which he yet continues to conduct in association with his son, Robert E. Wengler, under the firm name of Wengler & Son. In politics In politics Mr. Wengler has been an earnest Republican from the founding of the party, and he has always taken active interest in maintaining its principles, believing its supremacy to be indispensable to the stability and prosperity of the people in commercial as well as in governmental lines. In religion he was reared in the Lutheran faith. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having affiliated with Pacific Lodge, No. 15, in 1858, and for fifteen years he has served as treasurer of that body. He also holds membership with Koehler Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Melrose, St. Louis County. Notwithstanding he has reached the advanced age of eighty years, he is in entire possession of his physical and mental faculties, and continues to give his personal attention to the management of his various interests, necessitating frequent visits to the city of St. Louis and to other points in the vicinity. His wife, three years his junior, with whom he had lived for the unusual period of fifty-nine years, died early in 1901. Of their marriage were born thirteen children, of whom six are deceased. Those living are as follows: William C., a prominent business man of Clayton, whose biography appears in this work; Emily J., widow of Robert C. Allen, deceased, who was a prosperous farmer and a man of commanding influence, who served as a captain in the Union Army during the Civil War, and afterward as judge of the St. Louis County Court, and as Representative in the Thirty-first and Thirty-second General Assemblies of Missouri; Frederick A., of Clayton, who was formerly employed in the office of the county collector; Charles O., for more than twenty years past a railway postal clerk in charge on the Missouri Pacific Railway between St. Louis and Kansas City, and who took the first fast mail out of St. Louis when

that service was established; Jacob H., a carpenter at Allenton; Mamie M., wife of Allen M. Browning, railway postal clerk on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway between St. Louis and Monett, and Robert E., a merchant and the postmaster at Allenton, Missouri.

Wengler, William Columbus, was born in Meramec Township, St. Louis County, Missouri, October 5, 1844, son of Frederick and Agnes (Pyatt) Wengler. Frederick Wengler, the father, who was a tanner and shoemaker by trade, located in Allenton, St. Louis County, in 1859. He engaged in merchandising and still remains there. William Wengler, the grandfather, immigrated to the United States in 1835 and located on a farm on Fiddle Creek, Franklin County, Missouri. Young Wengler acquired a good practical education in the public schools of his native town, after which he worked for his father as clerk in his store, and in 1869 became a partner under the firm name of Wengler & Son. In 1875 he withdrew from the firm and was appointed a clerk in the internal revenue office in St. Louis, and later was a clerk in the assessor's office. From 1876 to 1880 he was agent of the Missouri Pacific Railway at Allenton. In 1880 he became deputy sheriff under Robert Schnecko, and held that position two years. In January, 1883, he was appointed deputy county clerk for St. Louis County, and in 1886 was elected county clerk. At the expiration of his term he was re-elected to a second term, holding the office eight years. In 1895 he was elected justice of the peace for Clayton and served two years. In the fall of 1896 he was elected treasurer of St. Louis County, and in 1898 was re-elected for a second term. Mr. Wengler has been an efficient public official, and one universally popular with his constituents. He was a member of Company B of Ink's battalion of the United States Reserve Corps during the Civil War, and was assigned to duty with the troops. charged with the duty of guarding the railroad bridges from Pacific Junction to St. Louis. He is a member of Koehler Post No. 159, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and takes a great interest in Grand Army matters. In politics he is a Republican, and independent in his religious belief. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Work