>>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.
My family first came to St. Louis in 1825, when Thomas O’Flaherty, my great-great-grandfather and father of author Kate Chopin, arrived from Galway, Ireland. Thomas immigrated in search of a new beginning; he started a boat store and wholesale grocery. One of Kate Chopin’s children, George Chopin, my grandfather, was a well-known physician in the Baden area of North St. Louis. My father, David Chopin, continued in his grandmother’s footsteps, spending his career writing for radio and advertising. Kate Chopin scandalized society at the turn of the century by writing short stories and one very popular novel, The Awakening. She has been honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in the Loop, and a bronze bust of her stands on Writers’ Corner at Euclid and McPherson avenues, where she is joined by T.S. Eliot and Tennessee Williams. Kate’s writing covered the rights and independence of women a quarter-century before women could vote. She began writing after her husband’s death in 1882, and today, her works are taught worldwide.
—George Chopin
My husband and I own a century home in Webster Groves that has been in my family for 105 years. My great-grandparents, Ethel and Frank Haywood, were born in England and came to St. Louis in 1890. My great-grandfather worked as a jeweler and engraver for the 1904 World’s Fair. In 1909, they purchased our home, where they raised their four children. Their oldest son, my grandfather, was a surveyor and worked on the construction of Route 66. He and his wife purchased the home during the Depression and raised their daughters there. My mother, the youngest, was born in the house. In 1979, my husband and I purchased the house, and we’ve raised our three children here. We now have two grandchildren and hope the home stays in the family for another hundred years!
—Debbie Hadley
My great-aunt Harriet Bland-Green was on the 4×100-meter gold medal relay winning team in the infamous 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Her teammate was the famous Helen Stephens from Fulton, Mo., who won gold medals for the relay and the 100-meter. Their coach was Dee Boeckman, also from St. Louis. Dee was my wife Kathy’s great aunt! We never realized the connection until an article about that team came out in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch long after Kathy and I were married.
—Kenneth Bland
In the early 1900s, my grandfather, Frank H. Bussmann, grew up with his German immigrant parents, five brothers and two sisters in what is now the historic Hyde Park neighborhood of North St. Louis. In the basement of their home, the Bussmann boys tinkered with all things electrical. By 1914, the five self-taught brothers—now all seasoned electricians—started Bussmann Manufacturing Co. near their home in North St. Louis. During the ’20s, Frank invented the ‘Buss Lamp,’ a portable reading lamp that was sold along with electric fuses his brother had patented. The company was sold in 1929 to McGraw Edison Electric, with the understanding that the brothers could run it indefinitely. By the 1980s the brothers had all passed away, and the company was sold to Cooper Industries. The descendants were invited back for the business’ 75th anniversary in 1989, and about 200 showed up to see the Bussmann fuses adapted for modern use. Bussmann products are found in the Gateway Arch, New York subway cars and the Disney World monorail system. They have been used in NASA space shuttles, the historic moon capsule, NASCAR racing vehicles, and in many other commercial, industrial and residential applications far afield from their humble beginnings.
—Barbara Bussmann Donohue
Compiled by Stephanie Zeilenga
[Town & Style is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of STL250, the nonprofit celebrating our region’s quarter-millennial.]
