>>What brought your family here?
In celebration of St. Louis’ 250th birthday, Town & Style is compiling and sharing tales from readers about family histories in St. Louis. To share your story, email us at tellus@townandstyle.com.
St. Louis is my hometown, and I’m proud of it! I was born in the suburb of Maplewood in 1934. Times were tough, and I was one of 10 children. Upon graduating high school, I worked as a secretary at Ralston Purina for a department manager. St. Louis had so much to offer. The outdoor Municipal Theatre in Forest Park was always a favorite. I attended every chance I could, sitting in the free seats with binoculars. I would walk into the park from the Hi-Pointe, or as near as I could get. The park was always neatly trimmed, clean and safe. The roller rink, the Hi-Pointe Theatre and the restaurants around the area were so special. It was a wonderful place to grow up.
—Carol Woodruff Burkhard
In 1925, my father, Dr. John B. O’Neill, came to town as an Iowa farm boy to attend Saint Louis University Medical School. He became an obstetrician and gynecologist and married my mother, Isabel Fry, whose father owned the Fry-Fulton Lumber Company. They lived in Briarcliff in Ladue, raised three children and were members of Annunziata Parish.
In his 40 years of medical practice, my dad delivered more than 13,000 babies. He gave his services for all those years to the St. Louis City clinics. He held season tickets for both the baseball and football Cardinals and never missed a Billiken basketball game unless duty called. He also was president of the Saint Louis University Tipoff Club.
—Patty O’neill Clark
In 1919, my father-in-law, George Abatgis, came to America from Pergamon Turkey, Greek territory. He was Greek Orthodox and left to escape religious and ethnic persecution. For a short time, he lived in New York City, but left to join his sister in St. Louis. George asked for a job at Gordon Furs, a fur factory on Washington Avenue. He had worked as a tailor in Turkey and convinced the owner he could be a furrier. Some years later, George and business partner Sam Jacobs bought the business, changing its name to Custom Furs.
George’s sons Spiro and Trifon worked at Custom Furs from the time they were 12 and 13. Both returned to the family business after serving in World War II. Trifon eventually left Custom Furs to become a fur buyer for Stix Baer & Fuller, Famous-Barr and Hopper Furs. When George Abatgis passed away, his son Spiro moved the business to Lindbergh Boulevard, renaming it the Fur Centre. Trifon’s son Chris Abatgis is the third generation to be in the fur business—he spent 16 years at the Fur Centre before leaving to start his own fur business in the Westport area.
—Laura Abatgis
My great-grandfather Wendelin Schwartz immigrated to St. Louis from Eschbach, Germany, in 1884 when he was 16, two years after his brother. He married Hattie Huether, who emigrated from Germany in 1890 with her family. The couple opened a bakery at 4526 Gravois Ave., not far from Wendelin’s brother’s bakery. Wendelin’s sons, Adolf, Walter and Ernst, were all bakers, and my grandmother Sophie Schwartz Woodruff, reported by her 10 children to have been quite the baker, worked at the bakery until her marriage.
Walter served in the infantry in World War I, and died in 1927 from a bakery accident. When Wendelin died two years later, he was a member of the Bakers’ Unterstuetzungsverein (Benevolent Society), providing for families of St. Louis bakers who worked in difficult, dusty and hot conditions. Wendelin and Hattie were buried at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery near the bakery, which has since been renovated by the Sunday Morning Rugby Football Club with oven doors intact.
—Dorothy Johnson
Compiled by Stephanie Zeilenga
